,1  tt«  moh^u,! 


SAe//.. 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


BV  2805  .N5  J3  1878 
Jackson,  Lewis  Evens. 
Gospel  work  in  New  York  City 


Gospel  W^ork 


IN 


NEW  YORK  CITY. 


A  MEMORIAL 


OF 


FIFTY  YEARS  IN  CITY  MISSIONS. 


BY    LEWIS    E.   JACKSON, 

CORRESPONDING  SECRETARY. 


NEW  YORK  CITY  MISSION, 

50  BIBLE  HOUSE. 
f878. 


"Our  fathers  have  told  us,  ^vhat  Avork  thou 
didst  in  their  days :  showing  to  the  generation 
to  come  the  praises  of  the  LORD."  Psa.  44:1; 
78:4. 

"  Cast  thy  bread  upon  the  waters  :  for  thou 
Shalt  find  it  after  many  days."    Eccles.  11:1. 


"So^A^  thy  seed,  be  never  weary, 

Let  no  fears  thy  soul  annoy  ; 

Be  the  prospect  ne'er  so  dreary, 

Thou  Shalt  reap  the  fruits  of  joy. 


PHIITCaTOIT 


^.-»_ 


CONTENTS. 


I.   Historical page  5 

II.  Anniversaries - 24 

III.  Year  by  Year - 38 

IV.  Tracts  distributed - 53 

V.  Plans  and  Methods- - 55 

VI.  A  Missionary  Report 63 

VII.  What  it  costs 65 

VIII.  Personal  Effort 67 

IX.  Fruitfulness  of  Fruit 68 

X.  Hope  for  Drunkards -- 71 

XL  Tract  Work 75 

XII.  How  to  help  the  Poor 78 

XIII.  Whatcanldo? 81 

XIV.  The  Soul  that  stands  next - 86 

XV.  Doing  One's  Duty 88 

XVI.  TakeaStand - 92 

XVII.  Danger  of  Neglecting  one  Child- - 94 


4  CONTENTS. 

XVIII.  How  to  save  Souls 99 

XIX.  A  Mission  Convert  becomes  a  Missionary 100 

XX.  Scandinavians — The  Cosmopolitan  City 104 

XXI.  Living  and  Teaching  the  Gospel  of  Christ 108 

XXII.  Water  Street 112 

XXIII.  The  Masses 114 

XXIV.  Cooperation — 117 

XXV.  Workingmen's  Clubs 120 

XXVI.  Tenement  Houses 122 

XXVII.  Our  Danger--- 130 

XXVIII.  Tried  and  Proved 134 

XXIX.  Testimonies 139 

XXX.  W^oman's  Work  --- 148 

XXXI.  Organization — Constitution —  By-Laws — Chapels — 
Services  —  Carmel  Chapel  —  Olivet  Chapel  — 
Helping  Hand — Honorary  Members  —  Offi- 
cers—  Missionaries — Present  Status—  Church 
Organization— Form  of  Reporting — Corporate 
Titles — Forms  of  Bequest 165 


^^'^Q-^'^^'^ 


Gospel  Work 


IN 


NEW  YORK    CITY. 


I. 

SISrO'RICAL. 

Fifty  years  of  Gospel  work,  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  having  been  successfully  completed,  and 
there  being  a  constant  call  for  information  as  to 
the  plans  and  results  of  the  same,  the  present  vol- 
ume has  been  prepared,  with  a  view  of  preserving 
in  convenient  shape  the  leading  facts  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  City  Mission,  with  such  additional  state- 
ments as  will  serve  to  exhibit  its  aims,  its  practical 
operations,  and  some  of  its  more  important  results, 
A  concise  statement  of  the  history  of  the  City  Mis- 
sion will  appear  in  a  brief  recital  of  the  several  sa- 
lient points  in  its  organization  and  development. 

In  the   "Commercial  Advertiser"  of  Monday, 


6  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

February   19,   1827,  there  appeared   the  following 
notice : 

"A  public  meeting  will  be  held  at  the  Citj-  Hotel  this  evening, 
at  yi  o'clock,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  New  York  City  Tract 
Society,  for  the  supply  of  our  seamen,  our  Humane  and  Criminal 
Institutions,  and  for  other  local  tract  operations  in  this  city.  Sev- 
eral addresses  will  be  delivered.  A  general  attendance  of  all  who 
are  friendly  to  the  object  is  requested." 

In  the  same  paper,  on  the  following  Wednesday, 

there  was  found  this  brief  report : 

"Tract  Society. — Agreeably  to  public  notice,  a  large  assem- 
blage of  ladies  and  gentlemen  convened  on  Monday  evening  at  the 
City  Hotel,  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a  society  to  be  called  the 
'  Tract  Society  of  Naw  York,  auxiliary  to  the  American  Tract  So- 
ciety.' Richard  Varick,  Esq.,  presided,  and  the  meeting  was  ad- 
dressed by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Somers,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Monteith,  Rev.  Dr. 
Milnor,  Rev.  Dr.  Macauley,  and  two  other  gentlemen,  agents  of  the 
American  Tract  Society.  The  Constitution  was  read  and  adopted, 
after  which  many  of  those  present  became  subscribers  to  the  new 
Constitution." 

J^rom  a  more  extended  report  in  the  "  New 
York  Observer,"  of  Saturday,  February  24,  it  ap- 
peared that  in  addition  to  those  named  above,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Knox,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Brodhead,  and  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Spring,  also  actively  participated  in  the 
l^rocecdings,  and  that  the  Rev.  W.  A.  Hallock  acted 
as  Secretary,  who  also  read  the  report  of  a  prelimi- 
nnry  meeling  which  had  been  held  on  the  7th,  and 
jDrescntcd  the  draft  of  the  Constitution  as  it  had 


HISTORICAL.  7 

been  prepared  by  a  Committee  selected  for  that 
purpose. 

The  ministers  and  the  laymen  taking  part  in 
this  meeting  were  of  different  churches,  of  various 
denominations,  and  their  basis  of  action  was  their 
general  agreement  with  tlie  evangelical  faith,  and 
their  single  aim  to  make  the  gospel  known  to  the 
multitudes  outside  of  the  churches. 

The  Officers  and  Directors  of  the  New  York 
City  Tract  Society  for  the  first  year  were  as 
follows : 

President — Zechariah  Lewis. 

Vice-Presidents — Rev,  John  Stanford,  Rev. 
Cave  Jones,  Rev,  Henry  Chase,  Dr.  John  Neil- 
son,  Dr.  John  Stearns,  Thomas  Stokes,  Gerard 
Beekman,  and  Arthur  Tappan. 

Correspottding  Secretary — Gerard  Hallock. 

Recording  Secretary — Oliver  E.  Cobb. 

Treasurer — Ralph  V,  Beekman. 

Directors — John  Alexander,  Moses  Allen, 
AuGUSTiN  Averill,  Micah  Baldwin,  James  Ba- 
ker, Isaac  Beach,  Eli  Benedict,  Dr.  James  C. 
Bliss,  A.  Baker,  Joseph  Brewster,  Reuben  Brum- 
ley,  Frederick  Bull,  Jireh  Bull,  E.  K.  Bussing, 
W.  W.  Chester,  Elisha  Coit,  O.  E.  Cobb,  Wm.  R. 
Cook,  Richard  Cunningham,  Rufus  Davenport, 


8  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

John  S.  Davenport,  Rev.  Austin  Dickinson, 
William  E.  Dodge,  George  Douglass,  Wm.  R. 
DwiGHT,  Charles  IM.  Dwight,  Wm.  W.  Edwards, 
Alfred  Edwards,  Stephen  Griggs,  Charles 
Hall,  William  Hall,  Rev.  Wm.  A.  PIallock, 
Timothy  Hedges,  John  W.  Hinton,  John  D.  Hol- 
BROOK,  F'isher  How,  Joseph  Howard,  Jonas  Hum- 
bert, E.  D.  HuRLBUT,  Joseph  Hurlbut,  Rev.  Al- 
bert Judson,  John  Ledyard,  George  Marsh,  Rev. 
W.  G.  Miller,  John  Moir,  Wm.  D.  Murphy,  Jacob 
C.  Mott,  Edward  H.  Neilson,  Elias  Nexsen,  Jr., 
Peter  Ogilvie,  Ralph  Olmstead,  Joseph  Otis, 
Anson  G.  Phelps,  Zephaniah  Platt,  William 
PoE,  Capt.  C.  Prince,  John  Rankin,  James  B.  Re- 
QUA,  Peter  R.  Roach,  George  P.  Shipman,  Lewis 
Tappan,  Knowles  Taylor,  Henry  E.  Thomas, 
W.  R.  Thompson,  A.  S.  Thornton,  Abraham  Van 
Horne,  Samuel  G.  Wheeler,  John  Wheelwright, 
Jeremiah  Wilbur,  and  Timothy  D.  Williams. 

During  the  first  year,  the  Society  distributed, 
through  the  agency  of  its  committees  and  volunteer 
visitors,  2,368,548  pages,  equal  to  592,137  tracts  of 
four  pages  each,  and  received  and  expended  the 
sum  of  $2,090  86,  and  commenced  the  second  year 
with  a  balance  in  the  treasury  of  $24. 

For  six  or  seven  years  following,  the  Society 


HISTORICAL  9 

continued  its  useful  operations  in  the  same  line, 
gradually  growing  in  strength  and  efficiency.  Such 
was  the  success  attending  these  efforts,  and  so 
many  providential  openings  were  discovered  for 
increased  exertion,  that  it  was  deemed  best  to  en- 
gage men  as  missionaries  who  should  devote  their 
whole  time  to  Christian  efforts  among  the  poor  and 
neglected.  Accordingly,  in  1833,  mainly  through 
the  liberality  of  two  or  three  individuals,  men  were 
set  to  work  in  the  Fifth  and  Eighth  Wards  ;  and 
subsequently,  in  1835,  the  employment  of  mission- 
aries became  the  policy  of  the  Society,  and  the 
number  of  missionaries  was  increased  to  fourteen. 
In  the  same  year,  viz.,  1835,  the  Society  held  two 
Annual  Meetings;  the  first  being  held  March  11, 
1835  ;  and  the  second,  December  23,  1835  ;  and 
from  the  last  date  onward,  the  Annual  Meeting  has 
been  held  in  December,  and  is  now  fixed  by  the 
charter  for  the  Wednesday  following  the  second 
Monday  in  December  of  each  year.  And  this  will 
explain  why  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary,  which  would 
properly  fall  on  February  19,  1877,  is  celebrated 
two  months  earlier. 

For  thirty  years  the  Tract  Missionaries,  as  they 
were  generally  called,  carried  forward  their  evan- 
gelistic operation'.,  bringing  the  neglecters  of  the 


lo  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

sanctuary  into  the  churches,  the  children  into  Sab- 
bath-schools, and  holding  prayer-meetings  in  desti- 
tute neighborhoods,  etc.,  and  during  this  period 
they  reported  an  aggregate  of  tracts  distributed, 
30,000,000;  of  conversions,  7,000;  and  money  ex- 
pended, $400,000. 

In  1864  steps  were  taken  looking  to  the  reor-^ 
ganization  of  the  Society;  new  men  were  brought 
into  the  Board  of  Directors,  an  office  was  rented 
in  the  Bible  House,  a  Secretary  was  appointed,  who 
was  to  devote  his  whole  time  to  writing  up  the  his- 
tory of  the  Society,  and  to  giving  information  to  the 
public.  And  now  commenced  the  publication  of 
the  reports  and  papers  on  the  methods  and  results 
of  city  evangelization,  which  have  had  much  to  do 
with  awaking  and  directing  Christian  zeal  and  ac- 
tivity in  this  and  in  other  cities,  in  labors  among 
the  lowly ;  so  that  the  office  of  the  City  Mission 
has  come  to  be  recognized  as  a  bureau  of  informa- 
tion on  church  and  charitable  work  generally,  and 
applications  for  plans  of  operations  and  illustrative 
facts  and  arguments  are  constantly  being  received 
from  all  parts  of  the  country. 

One  of  the  secretary's  articles,  published  in  the 
"Journal  of  Commerce,"  May,  1864,  drew  out  an 
unexpected  response  from  a  gentleman,  who  gave 


HISTORICAL.  Ti 

$5,000  towards  the  establishment  of  a  fund  for  build- 
ing mission  chapels,  which  fund  soon  after  reached 
the  sum  of  $100,000. 

At  the  thirty-eighth  annual  meeting,  Dec.  14, 
1864,  the  name  of  the  Society  was  changed  to  that 
of  the  New  York  City  Mission  and  Tract  Society. 
In  1866  the  Society  was  incorporated  by  the  state 
legislature,  and  in  the  same  year  a  Superintendent 
of  Missions  was  appointed  for  the  organization  of 
mission  chapels  and  services,  the  instruction  of  the 
missionaries,  and  the  advocacy  of  the  claims  of  the 
Society  in  the  churches  and  Sabbath-schools. 

In  1867  the  first  of  the  chapels,  now  known  as 
Olivet  Chapel,  was  built  on  a  piece  of  ground  in 
the  interior  of  the  block  between  First  and  Second 
streets,  and  First  and  Second  avenues  ;  the  ground 
belonged  to  the  First  Street  Presbyterian  Church, 
then  recently  disbanded,  and  was  given,  with  some 
personal  property,  to  the  City  Mission  by  the  trus- 
tees thereof,  for  that  purpose — the  state  legislature 
by  special  act  authorizing  the  trustees  so  to  do,  and 
thereby  confirming  the  City  Mission  in  their  title 
to  the  possession  of  the  property. 

At  the  same  time  premises  were  rented  or  pur- 
chased in  various  other  parts  of  the  city,  in  which 
mission  stations  were  established.     Simultaneously 


12  GOSPEL  WORK  IX  NEW  YORK. 

with  these  movements,  individual  churches  and  de- 
nominational unions  also  actively  engaged  in  simi- 
lar evangelistic  enterprises,  and  the  number  of  mis- 
sion chapels  was  greatly  increased.  And  as  the 
churches  generally  located  their  missions  in  the 
upper  parts  of  the  city,  the  City  Mission  felt  it  to 
be  their  province  to  care  particularly  for  the  more 
neglected  portions  of  the  city  lying  chiefly  below 
Fourteenth  street. 

With  commodious  and  attractive  chapels  cstab. 
lished  and  regularly  ordained  ministers  appointed 
thereunto,  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  and  other 
religious  services  were  appointed,  Sabbath-schools, 
temperance  meetings,  helping  hands,  and  other 
appliances,  were  instituted,  and  multitudes  were 
brought  under  the  influence  of  the  truth.  Through 
the  Divine  blessing  resting  on  and  following  these 
labors  many  souls  were  hopefully  converted.  In 
the  earlier  years  of  the  tract  effort  the  tract  mis- 
sionaries and  their  visitors  led  their  converts  into 
the  various  churches.  Now,  at  least  in  many  in- 
stances, there  were  no  churches  at  hand  where  the 
converts  could  easily  go  ;  and  naturally  feeling  a 
strong  attachment  to  those  who  first  sought  them 
out,  and  to  the  chapel  which  had  become  their  spir- 
itual birthplace,  these  converts  expressed  an  ear- 


HISTORICAL.  13 

licst  desire  to  be  gathered  into  a  church  on  the 
ground. 

For  two  or  three  years  the  question  of  church 
organization  was  agitated,  until  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee, who  had  minute  and  careful  oversight  of  all 
the  operations  of  the  missionaries  and  the  workings 
of  the  chapels,  were  fully  persuaded  that  the  time 
had  come  when  the  proper  care  and  growth  of  the 
converts  gathered  by  the  missionaries  demanded 
the  administration  of  the  Christian  ordinances  in 
the  mission  chapels.  After  mature  deliberation  the 
Executive  Committee  resolved  to  lay  the  matter 
before  the  Society,  which  was  done  at  the  annual 
meeting  held  Dec.  15,  1869,  when,  after  a  free  and 
general  interchange  of  views,  the  Society  author- 
ized the  Executive  Committee  to  proceed  to  the  for- 
mation of  Christian  congregations  in  the  several 
mission  chapels,  as  called  for. 

The  following  plan  was  adopted  for  the  orderly 
introduction  of  the  Christian  ordinances  into  the 
City  Mission  chapels  : 

I.  A  committee  of  the  Executive  Committee  shall  be  appointed 
to  visit  the  mission  chapel,  and  those  persons  who  shall  wish  to 
unite  in  the  Christian  society  there  to  be  formed,  shall  present  to 
this  committee  the  evidence  of  their  piety,  either  by  certificate  of 
their  church-membership,  or  by  examination  before  the  commit- 
tee, and  when  apfMoved  by  the  comniittee  they  shall  form  the 
Chiistian  Society  of  said  mission. 


14  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

2.  The  Society  thus  defined  shall  immediately  proceed  to  elect, 
by  a  majority  of  all  its  members,  in  which  of  the  forms  recognized 
among  evangelical  Christians  the  ordinances  shall  be  observed 
within  it,  and  this  decision  shall  be  irreversible  in  that  Society,  ex- 
cept by  a  vote  of  three  fourths  of  all  its  members. 

3.  It  shall  then  be  submitted  to  the  Society  whether  they  will 
elect  four  or  six  officers,  in  classes  of  two  each,  to  whom  shall  be 
committed  the  duty  of  examining,  under  the  counsel  of  the  mis- 
sionary in  charge,  and  receiving  all  additional  members,  and  of 
excluding  from  the  ordinances  those  who,  after  a  fair  investiga- 
tion, shall  be  found  to  be  unworthy  of  them. 

4.  If  such  election  be  determined  upon,  it  shall  at  once  pro- 
ceed. The  officers  of  the  second  class  then  elected  shall  hold 
office  for  one  year,  when  there  shall  be  an  election  of  an  equal 
number  of  officers  to  take  their  place.  The  officers  of  the  first 
class  shall  be  replaced  by  an  election  to  be  held  two  years  hence, 
and  yearly  elections  shall  be  held  thereafter,  in  such  manner  that 
all  officers  shall  serve  two  years.  The  officers  who  shall  have 
completed  their  term  of  office  shall  be  re-eligible. 

5.  These  officers  shall  have  a  spiritual  oversight  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Society,  but  they  shall  have  no  control  of  any  of  those 
details  of  mission  work  which  have  hitherto  been  within  the  power 
of  the  Executive  Committee.  The  discipline  which  they  shall  ad- 
minister shall  conform  to  rules  to  be  hereafter  drawn  out  by  the 
Executive  Committee. 

6.  When  any  convert  who  shall  wish  to  join  the  Society  thus 
constituted  shall  have  conscientious  preferences  in  behalf  of  any 
form  of  baptism  in  use  among  evangelical  Christians,  that  ordi- 
nance shall  be  administered  in  his  case  according  to  such  prefer- 
ence. And  when  so  many  as  five  members  of  such  Society  shall 
have  conscientious  preferences  in  behalf  of  any  mode  of  admin- 
istering the  Lord's  Supper  which  is  in  use  among  evangelical 
Christians,  and  is  different  from  that  which  has  been  chosen  by 
the  Society,  a  special  communion-service,  according  to  such  pref- 
erence, shall  be  appointed  for  them,  to  occur  as  frequently  as  the 
service  adopted  by  the  Society, 


HISTORICAL.  15 

7.  The  ordinances  shall  in  each  case  be  administered  by  an 
ordained  minister,  who  shall  be  connected  with  some  evangelical 
e.clesiastical  body  in  this  city  or  vicinity. 

8.  The  Apostles'  creed  shall  be  adopted  by  the  Society  above 
described. 

In  1870,  in  accordance  with  the  action  of  the 
Society,  and  upon  the  plan  adopted,  Christian  So- 
cieties were  regularly  organized  in  several  of  the 
mission  chapels,  and  during  the  six  years  that  have 
elapsed  there  have  been  received  into  membership, 
on  the  confession  of  their  faith,  an  aggregate  of 
1,202  persons. 

The  Presidents  of  the  Society  have  been  :  i. 
Zechariah  Lewis  ;  2.  Hon.  Theodore  Freling- 
HUYSEN ;  3.  Rev.  James  Milnor,  D.  D.  ;  4.  Rev. 
Thomas  De  Witt,  D.  D.  ;   and  5.  A.  R.  Wetmore. 

The  office  of  Corresponding  Secretary  has  been 
filled  successively  by,  i,  Gerard  Hallock;  2.  Sid- 
ney E.  Morse  ;  3.  John  Cleaveland  ;  4.  James  F. 
Robinson  ;  5,  Rev.  Charles  Hyde  ;  6.  A.  R.  Wet- 
more  ;  and  7.  Lewis  E.  Jackson. 

The  Rev.  George  J.  Mingins  was  appointed 
Superintendent  of  Missions  in  1866,  and  resigned 
in  1875. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  those  who  have  been 
in  the  missionary  service  of  the  Society,  but  are 
not  now  connected  with  it: 


i6 


GOSPEL  WORK  IX  XFAV  YORK. 


r. 

AD.AMS,  CHARLES. 

48. 

2. 

AMBLER,  J.  L. 

49- 

3- 

AMERMAN,  R.  S. 

BO- 

4 

ABINGTON,  M. 

S'- 

5- 

BABCOCK,  W.  R. 

52- 

6. 

BACON,  W.  A. 

53- 

7 

BALLARD,  J.  B. 

54- 

8 

BATTERSBY,  C. 

55- 

9- 

BERGNER,   PETER. 

56. 

lO. 

BERKY,  ABRAHAM. 

57- 

II. 

BETKER,  JOHN  P. 

58. 

12. 

BISHOP.  JAMES  W. 

59- 

13- 

BLATCHFORD,  W.  H. 

60. 

14. 

BOUGHTON,  PETER. 

61. 

»5 

BRADFORD,  WM. 

62. 

16. 

BRADLEY,  JOSFPH  H. 

63. 

'7- 

BURDICK,  JASON  L. 

64. 

18. 

BULEN,  JOHN  H. 

6S. 

>9 

BUTTS,  JOSHUA. 

66. 

20. 

BURL  PETER. 

67. 

2  I. 

CAMP,  AMZI. 

68. 

22. 

CLEVELAND,  HENRY  W. 

69. 

23- 

COE,   NOAH. 

70. 

24. 

COLLINS,  CHARLES  T. 

71- 

25- 

CRAFT,  CHARLES. 

72- 

26. 

DARLING,  CHARLES  C. 

73- 

2  7- 

DUBOIS,  GEORGE. 

74- 

28. 

DUBOIS,  GRANT. 

75- 

29. 

DICKHOUT,  CONRAD. 

76. 

30. 

ELMORE,  JOHN  B. 

77- 

3'- 

ENGLISH,   ENEAS. 

78. 

32. 

ERDMAN,   M.  A. 

79- 

73- 

FINCH,  MYRON. 

80. 

34- 

FLETCHER,  S. 

Si. 

35- 

ERASER,  EDWARD  A. 

82. 

36. 

FRlEDEL,  HENRY  A. 

83. 

37- 

FROST,  S.  A. 

84. 

3S. 

GELSTON,  ROLAND. 

85. 

39- 

GORY,  ADRIAN. 

86. 

40. 

GOSS,   MARK. 

87. 

41. 

GRAY,   NATHANIEL. 

88. 

42. 

GRAY,  ROBERT  H. 

89. 

43- 

GRAY,  WM. 

90. 

44. 

GRIEVE,  DAVID  G. 

91. 

45- 

GROSJEAN,  GUSTAVUS. 

92. 

46. 

GULDIN,  JOHN  C. 

93- 

47. 

GULICK,  THOMAS  L. 

94. 

HAGEN.  F.  F. 
HALLIDAY,  SAMUEL  B. 
HAWLEY,  EDWIN  H. 
HARRIS,  JOSEPH. 
.  HARRIS,  THOMAS  T. 
HAYTER,  RICHARD. 
HELLAND.  OLA. 
HOLT,  WM.  D. 
HORTON,  JONATHAN  B. 
HORTON,  RICHARD. 
HOWELLS,  HENRY  C. 
HURLBUT,  J.  L. 
HUTCHINSON,  M.  N. 
HYDE,  CHARLES. 
JANES,  FREDERICK. 
JANES,  WALTER  R. 
JONES,  EDWIN  F. 
JONES,  WM.  B. 
KIRBY,  WM. 

lathrop,  calvin, 
lestrade,  joseph  p. 
lichtexstein,  john, 
little,  henry  m. 
lockwood,  benjamin, 
longmore,  benjamin, 
love,  john. 
McDonald,  charles. 

McFARLAND,  M. 
MACK,  ENOCH. 
MARCHANT,  HENRY. 
MATTICE,  HENRY. 
MAY,  EDWARD  H. 
MEACHAM,  JOHN  H. 
METEER,  JOHN  H. 
MARTIN,  JOHN  W. 
MINGINS,  GEORGE  J. 
MITCHELL,  W.  F. 
MOORE,  DAVID  B. 
MORLEY,  S.  B. 
MUNROE,  JAMES  W. 
NEFF-,  G. 

NEWCOMB,  CHARLES  S. 
NORTON,  O.  W. 
ORCHARD,  ISAAC. 
OSTROM,  JAMES  L 
PARKER,  RICHARD. 
PETRESON,  P. 


HISTORICAL. 


17 


SHULTZ,  E.  M. 
SMITH,  WM.  C. 
SPANSVVICK,  THOMAS  W. 
SPENCER,  P.  A. 
STANLKY,  HENRY  F. 
STEINHART,  J.  A. 
TERRY,  DAVID. 
TURNER,  WM.  S. 
VAN  DYKE,  PETER. 
VEHSLAGE,  HENRY. 
WARING,  OSCAR  M. 
WEST,  ROYAL. 
WHITE,  THOMAS. 
WILDEY,  JOSEPH. 
WILDS,  ZENAS  P. 
WITTELSEY,   HENRY. 
YOUNG,  MICHAEL. 
YOUNG,  SAMUEL. 


If  to  the  foregoing  we  add  the  number  now  in 
the  service,  the  aggregate  will  be  145,  and  if  we 
still  further  add  the  number  of  missionary  women 
who  have  been  or  are  now  in  the  work,  the  grand 
total  will  reach  200. 

The  money  expended  in  sustaining  the  mission- 
aries and  carrying  on  the  operations  of  the  Society, 
by  the  several  decades,  appears  as  follows  : 


95- 

PAYSON,  EDWARD  P. 

114. 

96. 

PIERCEY,  A.  J. 

115. 

97- 

POND,  T. 

116. 

98. 

PORTER,  GEORGE. 

117. 

99- 

POTTER,  ALEX. 

118. 

100. 

POWELL,  C.  H. 

iig. 

lOI. 

PRATT,  EDWARD. 

120. 

102. 

RAILSBACK,  L. 

121. 

103. 

ROBINSON,  A.  H. 

122. 

104. 

ROE,  ALFRED  C. 

123- 

105. 

ROTH,  WM. 

124. 

106. 

ROWLAND,  LEVI  P. 

125. 

107. 

RUDY,  JOHN. 

126. 

loS. 

RUSSELL,  DAVID. 

127. 

109. 

RUSSELL,  SAMUEL. 

128. 

1 10. 

SCHENCK,  A.  V.  C. 

129. 

in. 

SHARP,  JOHN  S. 

130. 

1  12. 

SHELDRAKE,  JOHN  H. 

131- 

113- 

SHIPMAN,  D. 

1827  to  1837,  $41,761  39. 
1837  to  1847.  104.833  35. 
1S47  to  1857,  148,496  60. 


1857  to  1867,  $199,805  69. 
1S67  to  1877,  450,620  59. 


Adding  to  the  above  the  sum  of  $100,000  ex- 
pended in  building  mission  chapels,  we  have  the 
grand  aggregate  of  $1,045,517  62. 

The  summary  of  results  for  the  fifty  years  ap- 


Gosjiei  Wovk. 


18  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

pears  as  follows,  it  being  borne  in  mind  that  the 
full  records  only  cover  a  period  of  forty-two  years, 
the  practice  of  reporting  being  first  systematically 
arranged  in  1835. 

Years  of  missionary  labor -•-- -  1,104 

Missionary  visits 2,104,751 

Tracts  in  English  and  other  languages  distributed 42,720,893 

Bibles  and  Testaments  supplied  to  the  destitute 86,052 

Volumes  loaned -  166,851 

Children  gatliered  into  Sabbath-schools 109,317 

Children  gathered  into  day-schools 23,303 

Persons  gathered  into  Bible-classes 14.274 

Persons  induced  to  attend  church 223,085 

Temperance  pledges  obtained 50,054 

Religious  meetings  held 110,927 

Persons  restored  to  church-fellowship 3,074 

Persons  hopefully  converted 21,650 

Converts  united  with  evangelical  churches --  12,972 

From  these  records  it  will  appear  that  the  hope- 
ful conversions  have  averaged  500  per  year,  which 
would  make  an  aggregate  of  25,000  hopeful  conver- 
sions for  the  entire  period  of  fifty  years.  And  for 
the  same  length  of  time  there  have  been  300  addi- 
tions to  the  churches  each  year,  making  an  aggre- 
gate of  15,000  added  during  the  fifty  years.  And 
the  amount  expended  in  carrying  on  the  operations 
of  the  Society  has  averaged  ^20,000  a  year,  which, 
for  the  fifty  years,  makes  a  total  of  ^1,000,000. 

In  this  historical  review  notice  should  be  made 


HISTORICAL.  19 

of  the  work  of  the  Female  Branch.  It  appears  that 
the  incipient  steps  in  the  formation  of  this  auxil- 
iary were  taken  in  consultations  held  at  the  house 
of  Mrs.  Divie  Bethune  (daughter  of  Isabella  Gra- 
ham) in  1822.  The  Constitution  was  reported  and 
organization  completed  in  its  first  public  meeting, 
which  was  held  in  the  Brick  Church  Chapel,  Park 
Row,  March  25,  1822.  In  1827  it  was  resolved,  in 
view  of  the  extent  of  the  field  presented  before  the 
Female  Tract  Society,  and  the  great  need  of  in- 
creased effort,  to  employ  a  woman,  at  least  for  part 
of  her  time,  as  an  agent ;  and  this  resolution  was 
immediately  acted  upon,  and  a  woman  was  appoint- 
ed, who,  at  the  end  of  her  first  month's  labor,  re- 
ported visits  to  ninety  families  and  calls  upon  sev- 
eral clergymen  in  reference  to  forming  auxiliary 
tract  associations  in  their  churches.  This  may  be 
said  to  have  been  the  first  step  in  woman's  work  in 
city  missions.  But  the  idea  thus  originated  seems 
to  have  been  of  slow  growth,  and  no  further  defi- 
nite action  in  that  direction  appears  upon  the  rec- 
ords until  the  year  1854,  when  a  good  woman,  who 
had  shown  great  zeal  and  skill  as  a  volunteer  tract 
visitor,  was  employed  at  a  small  salary  to  devote 
her  whole  time  to  systematic  visitation  among  the 
poor  and  needy;  and  within  a  year  or  two  other 


20  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

women  were  set  to  work,  until  1856,  when  there 
were  four  regularly  employed. 

In  1863,  the  Female  Branch,  whose  contribu- 
tions had  previously  gone  to  the  payment  of  the 
bills  for  the  tracts  used  in  distribution,  resolved 
that  henceforth  their  work  should  be  directed  to 
the  raising  of  money  for  the  support  of  the  mission- 
ary women. 

In  1875,  the  Female  Branch  was  reorganized  ; 
the  Board  of  Managers  constituted  five  of  their 
number  an  Executive  Committee,  to  give  particular 
attention  to  the  business  details ;  and  a  Superin- 
tendent was  appointed,  to  give  instruction  and  direc- 
tion to  the  missionary  women,  receive  applications 
for  appointment,  write  up  the  history  of  the  work, 
address  appeals  to  the  benevolent  ladies  of  the  city, 
etc.  Within  the  two  years  that  have  elapsed,  the 
amount  of  contributions  and  the  number  of  mis- 
sionaries have  been  doubled.  And  during  the  last 
year  a  house  has  been  taken,  where  the  missiona- 
ries may  have  the  comforts  of  a  home  and  enjoy  the 
benefits  of  proper  supervision,  and  a  systematic 
training  for  their  work. 

Having  thus  presented  an  historical  statement  of 
the  successive  steps  in  the  organization  of  the  New 
York  City  Mission  and  Tract  Society,  from  the 


HISTORICAL.  21 

beginning,  in  1827,  and  exhibited  some  of  the  re- 
sults of  '\}cit  fifty  years  that  have  elapsed,  W  Is  be- 
lieved that  the  friends  of  the  cause  v^SW.  find  herein 
occasion  for  devout  thanksgiving  to  Almighty  God 
for  his  providential  care  of  the  work  and  the  work- 
men, and  for  the  blessing  that  has  followed  their 
labors,  and  will  be  encouraged  still  to  continue  to 
them  their  generous  confidence  and  support.  The 
City  Mission  of  to-day  is  settled  substantially  on 
the  same  basis  of  Christian  union  and  cooperation 
as  at  the  first,  and  has  the  same  object  in  view, 
viz.,  the  evangelization  of  the  people  not  otherwise 
reached  by  the  churches.  It  is  the  auxiliary  of  the 
churches,  going  out  after  those  ready  to  perish.  Ic 
is  the  helper  of  the  churches  in  a  most  difficult  and 
yec  necessary  work,  and  should  receive  the  liberal 
aid  of  all  the  friends  of  Christ. 

Pastors  and  churches  of  various  denominations 
have  frequently  testified  to  the  economy  and  effi- 
ciency of  this  instrumentality,  and  the  Presbytery 
of  New  York,  representing  the  majority  of  the 
friends  and  supporters  of  this  Society,  unanimously 
passed  the  following  resolution  ; 

''The  Presbytery  of  New  York,  recognizing  the  New  York 
City  Mission  and  Tract  Society  as  an  important  auxiliary  of 
the  church  for  carrying  the  gospel  to  the  destitute,  would  commend 
the  same  to  the  confidence  of  the  churches,  and  bespeak  for  it  the 
prayers  and  active  cooperation  of  all." 


22  GOSPEL   WORK  IX  NEW  YORK. 

The  work  of  the  Society,  as  now  arranged,  com- 
prehends Gospel  Services,  Gospel  Temperance 
Meetings,.  Sabbath-Schools,  Bible-Classes,  Read- 
ing-Rooms.  and  various  auxiliary  contrivances,  all 
aiming  at  the  one  grand  design  of  making  the 
gospel  known  to  the  multitudes  of  men,  women, 
and  children  not  otherwise  reached  by  the 
churches. 

At  the  present  time  a  fresh  interest  is  manifest 
in  the  condition  of  the  poor  in  tenement-houses, 
and  renewed  efforts  are  being  made  in  the  way  of, 
I.  Improving  Tenement-Houses,  and  2.  Providing 
Missionary  Nurses  for  the  Sick  Poor. 

Another  project  is  that  of  Workingmen's  Clubs, 
designed,  not  to  add  to  the  charities  of  New  York, 
but  to  furnish  workingmen  with  healthy  moral. 
Christian  forms  of  entertainment  and  instruction, 
and  places  of  resort  where  they  may  be  free  from 
the  vicious  and  degrading  influences  of  the  drink- 
ing places.  And  still  another  scheme  is  to  give 
men  out  of  work  a  chance  to  help  themselves,  by 
purchasing  a  farm  convenient  to  the  city,  and  set- 
ting them  to  work  thereon.  The  laborers  in  City 
Missions  constantly  see  their  work  growing  in  im- 
portance, and  believe  that  it  is  intimately  connect- 
ed with  all  the  best  interests  of  society,  and  deserves 


HISTORICAL.  23 

the  earnest,  thoughtful  consideration  and  hearty 
support  of  every  good  citizen. 

To  disarm  Communism,  to  expose  the  errors  of 
Rationalism  and  Materialism,  is  needed  the  widest 
diffusion  of  that  practical  Christianity  which  teaches 
all  men  to  bear  one  another's  burdens,  directs  the 
strong  to  help  the  weak,  and  commands  us  to  fulfil 
the  law  of  Christ,  who  received  publicans  and  sin- 
ners, and  was  the  considerate  friend  of  those  who 
were  ignorant  and  out  of  the  way 

The  City  Mission,  as  the  representative  of  the 
churches,  is  going  down  into  the  depths  of  poverty 
and  ignorance  and  vice,  and  is  daily  illustrating,  in 
its  deeds  of  love  and  sympathy,  the  unselfish  spirit 
of  the  gospel,  and  furnishing  fresh  arguments  for 
the  truth  of  Christianity,  and  new  proofs  of  its 
Divine  origin  and  power.  And  as  the  churches 
shall  continue  to  support  and  strengthen  this  in- 
strumentality will  its  means  and  appliances  be  made 
effective  for  dispersing  the  darkness  of  ignorance 
and  sin  and  error,  and  leading  souls  into  the  light 
of  life. 


24  GOSPEL   WORK  rx  XEW  YORK. 

II. 

^.YJVirB^S:;i'RIBS  01^  TUB  CITT MISSIOjY. 

1828,  February  6,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
first  Anniversary  held  in  the  Masonic  Hall,  Broad- 
way, near  Pearl  street,  opposite  the  New  York  Hos- 
pital, The  President  Mr.  Zechariah  Lewis,  Rev.  Mr. 
Stanford,  Dr.  John  Stearns,  Mr.  Gerard  Hallock, 
Mr.  Zephaniah  Piatt,  Rev.  W.  A.  Hallock,  Rev.  C. 
P.  Mcllvaine,  Mr.  Timothy  Hedges,  and  Rev.  Dr. 
James  Milnor  participated  in  the  proceedings. 

1829,  February  4,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
second  Anniversary  held  in  the  Masonic  Hall, 
Broadway,  near  Pearl  street.     The  President  Mr. 

, Zechariah  Lewis,  Rev.  Cyrus  Mason,  Mr.  Alfred 
Edwards,  Mr.  Gerard  Hallock,  Rev.  H.  G.  Ludlow, 
Mr.  Jeremiah  Evarts,  Rev.  T.  E.  Vermilye,  Rev. 
W.  A.  Hallock,  and  Rev.  David  Temple  participa- 
ted in  the  services. 

1830,  February  3,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
third  Anniversary  held  in  the  IMasonic  Hall,  Broad- 
way, near  Pearl  street.  Dr.  John  Stearns,  Vice- 
President,  Rev.  Cyrus  Mason,  Rev.  W.  A.  Hallock, 
Mr.  Lewis  Tappan,  Mr.  Sidney  PI  Morse,  Rev.  Dr. 


AXAiyERSARIES  OF  THE  CITY  M/SSIOA.  25 

Jacob  Brodhead,  Rev.  Benjamin  H.  Rice,  Rev.  Dr. 
Gardiner  Spring,  Rev.  Dr.  John  Knox,  Rev.  Will- 
iam Patton,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  De  Witt  partici- 
pated in  the  proceedings. 

183 1,  April  18,  Monday  evening.  The  Fourth 
Anniversary  held  in  the  Masonic  Hall,  Broadway, 
near  Pearl  street.  The  President  Mr.  Zechariah 
Lewis,  Rev.  W.  A.  Hallock,  Mr.  Sidney  E.  Morse, 
Rev.  Peter  Stryker,  Rev.  Dr.  James  Milnor,  Rev. 
Sylvester  Woodbridge,  Mr.  Lewis  Tappan,  and 
Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  H.  Cox  participated  in  the  pro- 
ceedings. 

1832,  March  14,  Wednesday  evening.  The  Fifth 
Anniversary  held  in  the  Masonic  Hall,  Broadway, 
near  Pearl  street.  The  Rev.  A.  Maclay,  Rev.  W. 
A.  Hallock,  Mr.  S.  E.  Morse,  Rev.  Charles  Hyde, 
Mr.  S.  B.  Halliday,  Rev.  Joel  Parker,  Rev.  Charles 
G.  Sommers,  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  McCartee,  Mr.  A. 
Van  Sinderen,  Rev.  O.  Eastman,  Rev.  Edward 
Beecher,  and  Rev.  Benjamin  H.  Rice  participated 
in  the  proceedings. 

1833,  March  13,  Wednesday  evening.  The  sixth 
Anniversary  held  in  the  Chatham  Street  Chapel, 
Chatham,  near  Pearl  street.  The  President  Mr. 
Zechariah  Lewis,  Rev.  Dr.  John  Knox,  Mr.  Jesse 
Talbot,  Mr.  J.  F.  Robinson,  Rev.  Dr.  McMurray, 


26  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  .VEIV  YORK. 

Mr.  Edward  Probyn,  Rev.  Dr.  D.  C.  Lansing,  Rev. 
B.  C.  Cutler,  Rev.  Wm.  Patton,  Mr.  Moses  Allen, 
and  Rev,  Dr.  Woodbridge  took  part  in  the  proceed- 
ings. 

1834,  April  16,  Wednesday  evening.  The  Sev- 
enth Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Chatham  Street 
Chapel.  The  President  Mr.  Zechariah  Lewis,  Rev. 
Dr.  Thomas  McAuley,  Rev.  O.  Eastman,  Mr,  J.  F. 
Robinson,  Rev.  David  Bernard,  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas 
De  Witt,  Rev.  Mr.  Green,  Rev.  H.  G.  Ludlow,  and 
Rev.  S.  Woodbridge  took  part  in  the  services. 

1835,  March  ir.  The  Eighth  Anniversary  was 
held  in  the  Chatham  Street  Chapel.  The  Presi- 
dent Mr.  Zechariah  Lewis,  Rev.  C.  G,  Finney,  Rev. 
O.  Eastman,  Mr.  J.  F.  Robinson,  Rev.  William  G. 
Miller,  Rev.  Asa  D.  Smith,  Rev.  William  Adams, 
Rev.  E.  P.  Barrows,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  H.  Cox 
took  part  in  the  services. 

1835,  December  23.  The  Ninth  Anniversary 
was  held  in  the  Chatham  Street  Chapel.  The 
President  Mr.  Zechariah  Lewis,  Rev.  Wm.  G.  Mil- 
ler, Mr.  Alfred  Edwards,  Rev.  Charles  Hyde,  Rev. 
Henry  A.  Rowland,  Rev.  E.  F.  Hatfield,  Rev.  M.  S. 
Hutton,  Rev.  S.  Woodbridge,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Gar- 
diner Spring  took  part  in  the  services. 

1836,  December  22.     The  Tenth  Anniversary 


ANNIVERSARIES  OF  THE  CITY  MISSION  27 

was  held  in  the  Broadway  Tabernacle,  Broadway- 
near  Leonard  street.  The  President  Mr.  Zechariah 
Lewis,  Rev.  Dr.  John  Knox,  Mr.  Alfred  Edwards, 
Rev.  O.  Eastman,  Rev.  Sylvester  Woodbridge. 
Rev.  James  W.  McLane,  Rev.  W.  R.  Williams, 
Rev.  E.  N.  Kirk,  and  Hon.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen 
took  part  in  the  services, 

1837,  December  20,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
Eleventh  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle,  The  President  Mr.  Zechariah  Lewis, 
Rev.  Dr.  Isaac  Ferris,  Mr.  Alfred  Edwards,  Rev. 
O.  Eastman,  Rev.  S.  Woodbridge,  Rev.  Stephen 
Remington,  Rev.  J.  W.  Cooke,  Rev,  Silas  Illsley, 
Rev.  William  Adams,  Hon.  J.  S.  Buckingham,  and 
Rev.  Dr,  Thomas  De  Witt  took  part  in  the  services. 

1838,  December  19,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
Twelfth  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle.  Mr.  S.  V,  S.  Wilder,  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas 
De  Witt,  Rev.  O.  Eastman,  Mr.  Alfred  Edwards, 
Rev.  Isaac  Orchard,  Rev.  Aaron  Perkins,  Rev.  Dr. 
John  Knox,  Rev.  David  R.  Downer,  Rev,  Dr,  James 
Milnor,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Breckenridge  took  part  in 
the  services. 

1839,  December  18,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
Thirteenth  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle     The  Hon,  Theodore  Frelinghuysen, 


23  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

President,  Rev.  Dr.  George  Potts,  Mr.  Wm.  Walk- 
er, Rev.  O.  Eastman,  Rev.  Isaac  Orchard,  Rev.  \V. 
W.  Everts,  Rev.  Dr.  Theodore  E.  Vermilye,  Rev. 
E,  N.  Kirk,  and  Rev.  Dr.  James  Mihior  took  part 
in  the  services. 

1840,  December  23.  The  Fourteenth  Anniver- 
sary was  held  in  the  Broadway  Tabernacle.  The 
President  Hon.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  Rev. 
Henry  Chase,  Rev.  O.  Eastman,  Mr.  William 
Walker,  Rev.  Isaac  Orchard,  Rev.  John  O.  Choules, 
Rev.  M.  S.  Hutton,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Joel  Parker  took 
part  in  the  services. 

1841,  December  22,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
Fifteenth  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle.  The  President  Hon.  Theodore  Freling- 
huysen, Rev.  E.  W.  Andrews,  Mr.  William  Walker, 
Rev.  R.  S.  Cook,  Rev.  Isaac  Orchard,  Rev.  Elisha 
Tucker,  Rev.  E.  S.  Janes,  Rev.  William  Adams, 
and  Rev.  Dr.  Isaac  Ferris  took  part  in  the  ser- 
vices. 

1842,  December  21,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
Sixteenth  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle.  The  President  Hon.  Theodore  Freling- 
huysen, Rev.  Dr.  W.  W.  Phillips,  Mr.  William 
Walker,  Rev.  R.  S.  Cook,  Rev.  Isaac  Orchard,  and 
Rev.  David  Bellamy  took  part  in  the  services. 


ANNIVERSARIES  OF  THE  CITY  MISSION.  29 

1843,  December  20,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
Seventeenth  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle.  Mr.  W.  B.  Crosby,  Vice-president, 
Rev.  Elisha  Tucker,  Mr.  Wm.  Walker,  Rev.  O. 
Eastman,  Rev.  Isaac  Orchard,  Rev.  Dr.  Noah  Lev- 
ings,  Rev.  James  L.  Hodge,  Rev.  Dr.  John  Scudder, 
and  Rev.  Geo.  B.  Cheever  took  part  in  the  services. 

1844,  December  18,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
Eighteenth  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle,  The  President  the  Rev.  Dr.  James 
Milnor,  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  De  Witt,  Mr.  William 
Walker,  Rev.  R.  S.  Cook,  Rev.  Isaac  Orchard,  Rev. 
Edward  Lathrop,  Rev.  George-  Peck,  Rev.  Charles 
H.  Read,  and  Rev.  E.  N.  Kirk  took  part  in  the  ser- 
vices. 

1845,  December  17,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
Nineteenth  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle.  Mr.  Wm.  B.  Crosby,  Vice-president, 
Rev.  Dr.  James  W.  Alexander,  Mr.  Wm.  Walker, 
Rev.  R.  S.  Cook,  Rev.  Isaac  Orchard,  Rev.  John 
Dovvling,  Rev.  Dr.  M.  S.  Hutton,  Rev.  Dr.  William 
Adams,  Rev.  Edward  T.  Taylor,  and  Rev.  Dr. 
Thomas  McAuley  took  part  in  the  services. 

1846,  December  16,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
Twentieth  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle.     The  President  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  De 


30  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

Witt,  Rev.  Dr.  George  Peck,  Mr.  William  Walker, 
Rev.  R.  S.  Cook,  Rev.  Isaac  Orchard,  Rev.  S.  A. 
Corey,  Rev.  Daniel  Smith,  Rev.  Dr.  Stephen  H. 
Tyng,  and  Rev.  W.  W.  Everts  took  part  in  the  ser- 
vices. 

1847,  December  15,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
Twenty-first  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle.  The  President  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  De 
Witt,  Rev.  Dr.  Gardiner  Spring,  Mr.  Wm.  Walker, 
Rev.  R.  S.  Cook,  Rev.  Isaac  Orchard,  Rev.  Ira  R. 
Steward,  Mr.  Hiram  Ketchum,  and  Rev.  Henry 
Ward  Beecher  took  part  in  the  services. 

1848,  December  20,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
Twenty-second  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Broad- 
way Tabernacle.  The  President  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas 
De  Witt,  Rev.  R.  S.  Cook,  Mr.  William  Walker, 
Rev.  Isaac  Orchard,  Rev.  George  F.  Kettell,  Rev. 
Dr.  George  W.  Bethune,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Dill  took 
part  in  the  services. 

1849,  December  19,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
Twenty-third  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle.  The  President  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  De 
Witt,  Rev.  D.  W.  Clark,  Mr.  William  Walker,  Rev. 
R.  S.  Cook,  Rev.  Isaac  Orchard,  Rev.  E.  L.  Ma- 
goon,  Hon.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  and  Rev.  Dr. 
William  Adams  took  part  in  the  services. 


ANNIVERSARIES  OE  THE  CITY  MISSION.  31 

i85o,  December  18,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
Twenty-fourth  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Broad- 
way Tabernacle.  The  President  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas 
De  Witt,  Mr.  William  Walker,  Rev.  R.  S.  Cook, 
Rev.  Isaac  Orchard,  Rev.  Dr.  James  B.  Harden- 
bergh,  and  Rev.  Hugh  Smith  Carpenter  took  part 
in  the  services. 

185 1,  December  17,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
Twenty-fifth  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle.  The  President  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  De 
Witt,  Rev.  William  Bannard,  Mr.  William  Walker, 
Rev.  R.  S.  Cook,  Rev.  Isaac  Orchard,  Rev.  James 
R.  Stone,  Rev.  R.  S.  Foster,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Asa  D. 
Smith  took  part  in  the  services. 

1852,  December  15,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
Twenty-sixth  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Collegi- 
ate Reformed  Dutch  Church,  Lafayette  place,  cor- 
ner of  Fourth  street.  The  President  Rev.  Dr. 
Thomas  De  Witt,  Rev.  Dr.  William  Adams,  Mr. 
William  Walker,  Rev,  R.  S.  Cook,  Rev.  Isaac 
Orchard,  Rev.  Isaac  Westcott,  Rev.  E.  O.  Haven, 
Rev.  J.  S.  Lord,  and  Rev.  G.  L,  Prentiss  took  part 
in  the  proceedings. 

1853,  December  14,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
Twenty-seventh  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Colle- 
giate Reformed  Dutch  Church,  Lafayette  place,  cor- 


32  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

ner  of  Fourth  street.  Rev.  Dr.  Isaac  Ferris,  Vice- 
President,  Rev.  J.  M.  Reid,  Mr.  William  Walker, 
Rev.  O.  Eastman,  Rev.  Isaac  Orchard,  Rev.  A.  D. 
Gillette,  Rev.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  and  Rev.  A.  A. 
Wood  took  part  in  the  services. 

1854,  December  13,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
Twenty-eighth  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Collegi- 
ate Reformed  Dutch  Church,  Lafayette  place,  cor- 
ner of  Fourth  street.  The  President  Rev.  Dr. 
Thomas  De  Witt,  Mr.  William  Walker,  Rev.  Dr.  W. 
A.  Hallock,  Rev.  Isaac  Orchard,  Rev.  A.  D.  Gillette, 
Rev.  J.  M.  Reid,  and  Rev.  Dr.  R.  S.  Storrs,  Jr., 
took  part  in  the  services. 

1855,  December  19,  Wednesday  evening.  The 
Twenty-ninth  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Collegi- 
ate Reformed  Dutch  Church,  Lafayette  place,  cor- 
ner of  Fourth  street.  The  President  Rev.  Dr. 
Thomas  De  Witt,  Rev.  Dr.  E.  F.  Hatfield,  Mr- 
William  Walker,  Rev.  R.  S.  Cook,  Rev.  Isaac 
Orchard,  Rev.  Joseph  Banvard,  Rev.  Dr.  John 
Thomson,  and  Rev.  Hiram  Mattison  took  part  in 
the  services. 

1856,  December  21,  Sabbath  evening.  Tiie 
Thirtieth  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church,  Washington  square.  The  Rev.  Dr. 
Thomas  De  Witt,  Mr.  William  Walker,  Rev.  O. 


ANNIVERSARIES  OF  THE  CITY  MISSION.  33 

Eastman,  Rev.  Isaac  Orchard,  Rev.  Dr.  George  W. 
Bethune,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Jesse  T.  Peck  took  part  in 
the  services. 

1857,  December  20,  Sabbath  evening.  The 
Thirty-first  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Madison 
Square  Presbyterian  Church.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Will- 
iam Adams,  Vice-President,  Rev.  Edward  Lathrop, 
D.  D.,  Mr.  S.  W.  Stebbins,  Rev.  Isaac  Orchard, 
Rev.  Dr.  John  McClintock,  and  Rev.  H.  D.  Ganse 
took  part  in  the  services. 

1858,  December  19,  Sabbath  evening.  The 
Thirty-second  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Madison 
Square  Presbyterian  Church.  The  President  Rev. 
Dr.  Thomas  De  Witt,  Rev.  Dr.  William  Adams, 
Mr.  William  Walker,  Mr.  A.  R.  Wetmore,  Rev. 
Isaac  Orchard,  Hon.  W.  C.  Alexander,  and  Rev.  A. 
Kingman  Nott  took  part  in  the  services. 

1859,  December  18,  Sabbath  evening.  The 
Thirty-third  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Collegi- 
ate Reformed  Dutch  Church,  Fifth  avenue  and 
Twenty-ninth  street.  The  President  Rev.  Dr. 
Thomas  De  Witt,  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  E.  Vermilye, 
Mr.  A.  R.  Wetmore,  Rev.  Dr.  Edward  Lathrop, 
and  Rev.  Dr.  W.  J.  Hoge  took  part  in  the  ser- 
vices. 

i860,    December    16,   Sabbath    evening.      The 

Gospel  Work.  5 


34  GOSPEL   WORK  IX  NEW  YORK. 

Thirty-fourth  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  South 
Reformed  Church,  Fifth  avenue  and  Twenty-first 
street.  The  President  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  De  Witt, 
Rev.  Dr.  John  M.  McAuley,  Mr.  William  Walker, 
Mr.  A.  R.  Wetmore,  Rev.  Thomas  S.  Hastings, 
Rev.  Frederick  G.  Clark,  and  Rev.  Dr.  William 
Hague  took  part  in  the  services. 

1 86 1,  December  15,  Sabbath  evening.  The 
Thirty-fifth  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Madison 
Square  Presbyterian  Church.  The  President  Rev. 
Dr.  Thomas  De  Witt,  Rev.  Dr.  Asa  D.  Smith,  Mr. 
Wm.  Walker,  Mr.  A.  R.  Wetmore,  Rev.  Dr.  Rob- 
ert R.  Booth,  Rev.  Dr.  H.  G.  Weston,  and  Rev.  Dr. 
Wm.  Adams,  took  part  in  the  services. 

1862,  December  21,  Sabbath  evening.  The 
Thirty-sixth  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Madison 
Square  Presbyterian  Church.  The  President  Rev. 
Dr.  Thomas  De  Witt,  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  Adams,  Mr. 
Wm.  Walker,  Mr.  A.  R.  Wetmore,  Rev.  H.  B." 
Ridgaway,  Rev.  Joseph  T.  Duryea,  and  Rev.  Dr. 
Thomas  D.  Anderson,  took  part  in  the  services. 

1863,  December  20,  Sabbath  evening.  The 
Thirty-seventh  Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Fifth 
Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  Fifth  avenue  and 
Nineteenth  street.  The  Rev.  Dr.  N.  L.  Rice,  Vice- 
president,  Rev.  Thos.  S.  Hastings,  Mr.  Wm.  Walk- 


AA'A'IVERSJRIES  OF  THE  CITY  MISSION.  35 

er,   Mr.   A.  R.  Wetmore,  Rev.   H.  D.   Ganse,  and 
Rev.  Alfred  Cookman,  took  part  in  the  services. 

1864,  December  14,  Wednesday.  The  Thirty- 
eighth  Annual  Meeting  for  reports  and  elections 
was  held  in  the  Mission  Rooms,  Bible  House.  The 
Anniversary  services  were  held  on  Sabbath  even- 
ing, December  18,  in  the  South  Reformed  Church, 
Fifth  avenue  and  Twenty-first  street.  The  Rev. 
Dr.  N.  L.  Rice,  Vice-president,  Rev.  Dr.  W.  G.  T. 
Shedd,  Mr.  Lewis  E.  Jackson,  and  Rev.  Dr.  E.  P. 
Rogers,  took  part  in  the  services. 

1865,  December  13,  Wednesday.  The  Thirty- 
ninth  Annual  Meeting  for  reports  and  elections  was 
held  in  the  Mission  Rooms,  Bible  House.  The 
Anniversary  services  were  held  in  the  Fourth  Ave- 
nue Presbyterian  Church,  Sabbath  evening,  De- 
cember 17.  The  President,  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  De 
Witt,  Rev.  Dr.  James  O.  Murray,  Mr.  Lewis  E- 
Jackson,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Howard  Crosby,  took  part  in 
the  services. 

1866,  December  12,  Wednesday.  The  Fortieth 
Annual  Meeting  for  reports  and  elections  was  held 
in  the  Mission  Rooms,  Bible  House.  A  series  of 
meetings  were  held  in  various  churches  during  the 
year,  and  an  Anniversary  was  held  during  the  anni- 
versary week,  in  May,  in  Irving  Hall. 


36  GOSPEL   WORK  IX  NEW  YORK. 

1867,  December  11,  Wednesday.  The  Forty- 
first  Annual  Meeting  for  reports  and  elections  was 
held  in  the  Mission  Rooms,  Bible  House. 

1868,  December  16,  Wednesday.  The  Forty- 
second  Annual  Meeting  for  reports  and  elections 
was  held  in  the  Mission  Rooms,  Bible  House. 

1869,  December  15,  Wednesday.  The  Forty- 
third  Annual  Meeting  for  reports  and  elections  was 
held  in  the  Mission  Rooms,  Bible  House. 

1870,  December  14,  Wednesday.  The  Forty- 
fourth  Annual  Meeting  for  reports  and  elections 
was  held  in  the  Mission  Rooms,  Bible  House. 

1 87 1,  December  13,  Wednesday.  The  Forty- 
fifth  Annual  Meeting  for  reports  and  elections  was 
held  in  the  Mission  Rooms,  Bible  House.  Anni- 
versary exercises  were  held  the  following  Sabbath 
evening  in  the  Fifth  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church, 
Fifth  avenue  and  Nineteenth  street.  And  during 
the  several  years  preceding  there  were  many  public 
meetings  held  in  various  churches,  making  known 
the  plans  and  operations  of  city  missions. 

1872,  December  11,  Wednesday.  The  Forty- 
sixth  Annual  Meeting  for  reports  and  elections  was 
held  in  the  Mission  Rooms,  Bible  House. 

1873,  December  10,  Wednesday.  The  Forty- 
geventh  Anniversary  was  held  in  Association  Hall, 


ANNIVERSARIES  OE  THE  CITY  MISSION.  37 

Fourth  avenue  and  Twenty-third  street.  The  Pres- 
ident Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  De  Witt,  Mr.  A.  R.  Wet- 
more,  Rev.  George  L.  Shearer,  Mr,  Morris  K. 
Jesup,  Rev.  George  J.  Mingins,  Rev.  Dr.  John 
Hall,  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  T.  Duryea,  Hon.  Wm.  E. 
Dodge,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  S.  Robinson,  took 
part  in  the  services. 

1874,  December  16,  Wednesday.  The  Forty- 
eighth  Annual  Meeting  for  reports  and  elections 
was  held  in  the  Mission  Rooms,  Bible  House.  And 
on  the  Sabbath  evening  following,  December  20, 
anniversary  services  were  held  in  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle  Church;  the  Rev.  Dr.  T.  W.  Chambers, 
Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  M.  Taylor,  Rev.  Dr,  John  Hall,  and 
others,  participating. 

1875,  December  15,  Wednesday.  The  Forty- 
ninth  Annual  Meeting  for  reports  and  elections  was 
held  in  the  Mission  Rooms,  Bible  House.  On  the 
Sabbath  afternoon  following,  December  19,  a  ser- 
mon on  City  Evangelization  was  preached  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  R.  S.  Storrs  in  the  Fifth  Avenue  Presby- 
terian Church. 

1876,  December  13,  Wednesday.  The  Fiftieth 
Anniversary  was  held  in  the  Fourth  Avenue  Pres- 
byterian Church  ;  the  President  Mr.  A.  R.  Wet- 
more,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  M.  Stevenson,  Mr.  L.  E.  Jackson, 


38  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  Ormiston,  Rev.  G.  L.  Shearer,  Mr.  S. 
W  Schieffelin,  Mr.  Z.  S.  Ely,  Rev.  S.  B.  Halliday, 
Mr,  O.  R.  Kingsbury,  Mr.  Stephen  Cutter,  Rev. 
Richard  Horton,  Rev.  George  Hatt,  Rev.  Dr.  Chas. 
S.  Robinson,  Rev.  Dr.  W.  J.  Tucker,  and  Rev.  E. 
D.  Murphy,  participating  in  the  services. 


III. 

/827. 

FIRST  YEAR. 

President— ZECHAKIAU  LEWIS. 
Corresponding  Secretary.— GY.^A.R'D  HALLOCK. 
RESULTS. 

Distributed  592,127  tracts. 
Receipts,  $2,090  86. 

/S28. 

SECOND  YEAR. 
President.— Z^CUATt^lAU  LEWIS. 
Corresponding  Secretary.  —GERARD  H ALLOC K. 
RESULTS. 

Distributed  530,299  tracts. 
Receipts,  $1,543  35. 

f829. 

THIRD  YEAR. 

President.— ZECUAVAAH  LEWIS. 

Corresponding  Secretary.— SID'^'EY  E.  MORSE. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed  593,683  tracts. 
Receipts,  $3,382  79. 


YEAR  BY  YEAR.  39 

/830. 

FOURTH  YEAR. 

/'rmrtVw/.— ZECHARIAH  LEWIS. 
Correspo?tdmg  Secretary.— SlD'i>['EY  E.  MORSE. 

RESULTS. 
Distributed  930,250  tracts. 
Expended  $5,673  03. 

f83f. 

FIFTH  YEAR. 

President.— ZECRARIAH  LEWIS. 
Corresponding  Secreiary.-'&lD'iii'E.Y  E.  MORSE. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed  622,374  tracts. 
Expended  $2,802  66. 

/832. 

SIXTH  YEAR. 
President.— ZY.CliAKlA.li  LEWIS. 
Correspo7iding  Secretary.— ^tOYi'^  CLEAVELAND. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed  428,734  tracts. 
Expended  $5,218  78. 

7833. 

SEVENTH  YEAR. 

Preside}it.—ZY,QYiAKlAYi  LEWIS. 
Corresponding  Secretary.— ] AWES,  F.  ROBINSON. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed  412,128  tracts. 

Expended  $1,733  4^- 

A  Missionary  employed  part  of  the  year. 


40  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

7S3A. 

EIGHTH  YEAR. 

/'w/^^w/.— ZECHARIAH  LEWIS. 
Correspoiidi7ig  Secretary.— IhMYJi  F.  ROBINSON. 

RESULTS. 
Distributed  396,429  tracts. 
Expended  $3,361  73. 
Missionaries  employed. 

7885. 

NINTH  YEAR — (part  of  year). 
President.— ZY^CWPC^IKW  LEWIS 
Corresponding  Secretary.— ]k'^lYJ$,  F.  ROBINSON. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed  312,375  tracts. 

Expended  $6,8 16  32. 

Fourteen  Missionaries  employed. 

1835, 

NINTH  YEAR  (part  of  vcar). 
President.— ZY.Z\\KK\h.\\  LEWIS. 
Correspondi7tg  Secretary.— KEY.  CHARLES  HYDE. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed  674,966  tracts. 

Expended  ^138  39. 

Fifteen  Mcssionaries  employed. 

In  1835  there  were  two  Annual  Meetings  held  ;  the  first,  March 
II,  1835;  and  the  other,  December  23,  1835,  and  from  the  last 
date  onward  the  Annual  Meeting  has  been  held  in  December,  and 
is  now  fixed  by  the  Charter  for  the  Wednesday  following  the  sec- 
ond Monday  in  December  in  each  year. 


YEAR  BY  YEAR.  41 

/8S6. 

TENTH  YEAR. 

Pw/V.';//.— ZECHARIAH  LEWIS. 

Corresponding  Sirretary.—]  AM^S  F.  ROBINSON. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed  747,324  tracts. 
Expended  $10,562  Si. 
Sixteen  Missionaries  employed. 

/837. 

ELEVENTH  YEAR. 

Freside}it.—Z^CYi.ARlA\I  LEWIS. 

Corresponding  Secretary.— A.  R.  WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed  679,193  tracts. 
Expended  $10,229  ^9- 
Fifteen  Missionaries  employed. 

/8S8. 

TWELFTH  YEAR. 

President— nOl^.  THEO.  FRELINGHUYSEN. 

Corresponding  Secretary.— A..   R.  WETMORE. 
EESULTS. 
Distributed  842,806  tracts. 
Expended  $10,655  °S- 
Fourteen  Missionaries  employed. 

/839. 

THIRTEENTH  YEAR. 

Preside7it.—ll01^.  THEO.   FRELINGHUYSEN. 

Corresponding  Secretary.— A.  R.  WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed  764,053  tracts. 

Expended  $10,607   10. 

Fourteen  Missionaries  employed. 

Gosiiel  Work.  6 


42  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

78i-0. 

FOURTEENTH  YEAR. 

President.— \lO^.  THEO.  FRELINGHUYSEN. 
Corresponding  Secretary. — A.  R.  WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 

Distributed  684,599  tracts. 

Expended  $10,607   lO- 

Fourteen  Missionaries  employed. 

78Ji.7. 

FIFTEENTH  YEAR. 

President.— YiO^.  THEO.  FRELINGHUYSEN. 

Corresponding  Secretary.— K.  R.  WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed  732,155  tracts. 
Expended  $11,075  o°- 
Fourteen  Missionaries  employed. 

78^2. 

SIXTEENTH  YEAR. 
President.— KYN .  JAMES  MILNOR,  D.  D. 
Corresponding  Secretary.— K.  R.   WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 
Distributed  778,614  tracts. 
Expended  $9,981  61. 
Fourteen  Missionaries  employed. 

78^3. 

SEVENTEENTH  YEAR. 
President.— REV.  JAMES  MILNOR,  D.  D. 
Corresponding  Secretary.— A.  R,  WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed  848,571  tracts. 
Expended  $9,783  62. 
Fourteen  Missionaries  employed. 


VEAJi  By  YEAR.  43 

EIGHTEENTH  YEAR. 

President— ^YN .  JAMES  MILNOR,  D.  D. 

Correspondinc^  Secretary.— K.  R.   WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed  862,088  tracts. 
Expended  $10,065  Z^- 
Seventeen  Missionaries  employed. 

NINETEENTH  YEAR. 
President.— KEY.  JAMES  MILNOR,  D.  D. 
Corresponding  Seeretary.—k.  R.  WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 

Distributed  1,001,853  tracts. 
Expended  $11,266  56. 
Eighteen  Missionaries  employed. 

18^6. 

TWENTIETH  YEAR. 

President.— KEN.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
Corresponding  Secretary. — A.  R.  WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 

Distributed  1,024,170  tracts. 
Expended  811,750  99. 
Nineteen  Missionaries  employed. 

/8^7. 

TWENTY-FIRST  YEAR, 

President.— KEY .  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
Corresponding  Secretary. — A.  R.  WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 

Distributed  1,252,123  tracts. 

Expended  $13,997  70. 

Twenty  Missionaries  employed. 


44  GOSPEL  WURK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

-    TWENTY-SECOND  YEAR. 
President.— KEY.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
Corresponding  SecretiD-y.—h.  R.  WETMORE. 


Distributed  1,308,433  tracts. 
Expended  $12,675  49- 
Twenty  Missionaries  employed. 

1819. 

TWENTY-THIRD  YEAR. 

President.— KEN.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
Corresponding  Secretary.— A.  R.  WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed  1,631,890  tracts. 

Expended  $13,049  12. 

Twenty-one  Missionaries  employed. 

f850. 

TWENTY-FOURTH  YEAR. 

President.— KEY.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D,  D. 
Corresponding  Secretary. — A.  R.  WETMORE, 

RESULTS. 

Distributed  1,786,279  tracts. 
Expended  $13,649  46. 
Twenty-six  Missionaries  employed. 

f8o/. 

■     TWENTY-FIFTH  YEAR. 

President.— KEY .  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
Corresponding  Secretary.— A.  R.  WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 

Distributed  1,579,756  tracts. 
Expended  $15,776  76. 
Twenty-six  Missionaries  employed. 


YEAR  BY  YEAR.  45 

7862. 

TWENTY-SIXTH  YEAR. 

President.— KEY.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
Corresponding  Secretary.— h,  R.  WETMORE, 
RESULTS. 

Distributed  1,359,403  tracts. 

Expended  $16,531   25. 

Twenty-eight  Missionaries  employed. 

7853. 

TWENTY-SEVENTH  YEAR. 

Preside7tt.—KYN .  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
Corresponding  Secretary.— K.  R.  WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 

Distributed  1,777,173  tracts. 

Expended  $17,722  18. 

Twenty-six  Missionaries  employed. 

78  5 J^. 

TWENTY-EIGHTH  YEAR. 

President.— KEN .  THOMAS  DE  WITT.  D.  D. 
Corresponding  Secretary.— K.  R.   WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 

Distributed  1,523,947  tracts. 
Expended  $16,879  °7' 
Twenty-six  Missionaries  employed. 

7856. 

TWENTY-NINTH  YEAR. 

President.— KEY .  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 

Corresponding  Secretary.— K.  R.  WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed  1,257,458  tracts. 
Expended  $16,464  58. 
Thirty  Missionaries  employed. 


46  GOSPEL  WORK  IX  NEW  YORK. 

f866. 

THIRTIETII  YEAR. 
President.— K'EN.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
Corresponding  Secrfiary.— A.  R.  WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed  1,183,671  tracts. 
Expended  Ji 7,483  63. 
Twenty-eight  Missionaries  employed. 

f867. 

THIRTY-FIRST  YEAR. 

President.— ^-EW.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 

Corresponding  Secretary.— A.  R.  WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed  1,115,654  tracts. 
Expended  $17,986  36. 
Thirty  Missionaries  employed. 

f858. 

THIRTY-SECOND  YEAR. 

President.— 'KEY.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 

Corresponding  Secretary. — A.   R.  WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed  1,075,323  tracts. 
Expended  $17,378  15. 
Thirty  Missionaries  employed. 

/8S9. 

THIRTY-THIRD  YEAR. 

President.— REV.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D, 
Corresponding  Secretary.— A.  R.  WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 
Distributed  1,016,931  tracts. 
Expended  $17,109  96. 
Twenty-eight  Missionaries  employed. 


YEAR  BY  YEAR.  47 

^860. 

THIRTY- FOURTH  YEAR. 

President— KEN .  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
Corresponding  Secretary.— A.  R.  WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed  1,200,051  tracts. 

Expended  $17,227  92. 

Thirty-two  Missionaries  employed. 

f86/. 

THIRTY-FIFTH  YEAR. 

President— 'KEY.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
Corresponding  Secretary.— A.  R.  WETMORE. 


Distributed  1,013,783  tracts. 

Expended  5^17,202  79. 

Thirty-four  Missionaries  employed. 

f862. 

THIRTY-SIXTH  YEAR. 

President— REV.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
Corresponding  Secretary.— A.  R.  WETMORE. 


Distributed  1,112,264  tracts. 
Expended  $18,100  00. 
Thirty-four  Missionaries  employed. 


48  GOSPEL   WURK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

7863. 

THIRTY-SEVENTH  YEAR. 

President.— KE\.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
Corresponding  Secretary.— A.  R.  WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 
Distributed  1,006,901  tracts. 
Expended  $21,855  o"- 
Thirty-four  Missionaries  employed. 

At  the  Annual  Meeting,  December  20,  1863,  Mr.  Lewis  E. 
Jackson  was  appointed  the  Corresponding  Secretary. 

7864.. 

THIRTY-EIGHTH  YEAR. 

President.— REV.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D,  D, 
Corresponding  Secretary. —l.E\Y IS  E.  JACKSON. 

RESULTS. 

Eleven  Mission  Stations. 

Thirty  seven  Missionaries. 

Expended  $26,477  59- 

At  the  Annual  Meeting,  December  14,  1864,  the  name  of  the 
Society  was  changed  to  that  of  the  New  York  City  Mission 
AND  Tract  Society. 

/86S. 

THIRTY-NINTH  YEAR. 

President.— REV.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
Corresponding  Secretary.— I^EV^IS  E.  JACKSON. 

results. 

Eleven  Mission  Stations. 
Forty-three  Missionaries. 
Expended  $29,064  28. 


YEAR  BY  YEAR  49 

2866. 

FORTIETH  YEAR. 

President.— R^Y.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
CorresJ>otidhig  Secretary.— l.'EW I?,  E.  JACKSON. 
Suft  of  Missio?ts.—R'EY.  GEORGE   J.  MINGINS. 

RESULTS. 

Fourteen  Mission  Station. 
Forty-five  Missionaries. 
Expended  $36,108  42. 

Tlie  Society  incorporated,  February  19,  1866. 
Lebanon  Chapel  opened,  1S66. 

Rev.  George  J.  Mingins  appointed  Superintendent  of  Missions, 
1 866. 

/867. 

FORTY-FIRST  YEAR. 

President.— KEV .  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
Correspouding  Secretary. -UL'^ IS,  E.  JACKSON. 
Sztp't  o/Missious.— REV.  GEORGE  J.  MINGINS. 

RESULTS. 

Fourteen  Mission  Stations. 
Forty-six  Missionaries. 
Expended  $44,691  79. 
Olivet  Chapel  opened,  1867. 

fS68. 

FORTY-SECOND  YEAR. 

Presideut.—REV.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
CorresJ>onding  Secretary.— EEWIS  E.  JACKSON. 
Suft  0/  Missions.— REV.  GEORGE  J.  MINGINS. 

RESULTS. 

Twelve  Mission  Stations. 
Forty-two  Missionaries. 
Expended  $46,245  18. 

Gospel  Woik.  /- 


so  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

/869. 

FORTY-THIRD  YEAR. 

President.— TCEN.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
CorresJ>onding  Secretary.— IJE\NIS  E.  JACKSON. 
Su/to/A/issiofts.—REY.  GEORGE  J.  MINGINS. 

RESULTS. 

Ten  Mission  Stations. 
Forty  Missionaries. 
Expended  $53,188  26. 

/S70. 

FORTY-FOURTH  YEAR. 

President.— KEY.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
Corresponding  Secretary. — LEWIS  E.  JACKSON. 
Suft  0/ Missions.— REN.  GEORGE  J.  MINGINS. 

RESULTS. 

Seven  Mission  Stations. 
Forty  Missionaries. 
Expended  $50,556  86. 
Calvary  Chapel  opened,  1870. 

The  Christian  Ordinances  administered  in  the  Mission  Chapel 
1870. 

f87f. 

FORTY-FIFTH  YEAR. 

President.— REN .  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
Correspo7tding  Secretary.— EE'^\'&  E.  JACKSON. 
Siift  of  Missions.— REN.  GEORGE  J.  MINGINS. 

RESULTS. 

Seven  Mission  Stations. 
Forty  Missionaries. 
Expended  $51,030  77. 


YEAR  BY  YEAR.  $1 

7872, 

FORTY-SIXTH  YEAR. 
President— KESf .  THOMAS  DE  WITT    D.  D. 
Corresponding  Secretary.— \.Y.\^l'$,  E.  JACKSON. 
Suft  of  Missions.— KYN.  GEORGE  J.  MINGINS. 

RESULTS. 

Seven  Mission  Stations. 
Forty  Missionaries. 
Expended  $48,622  99. 
Carmel  Chapel  opened,  1872. 

7873. 

FORTY-SEVENTH  YEAR. 

President.— KEY.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
Corresponding  Secretary.— 'LE^ IS  E.  JACKSON. 
Suft  of  Missions.— KEY.  GEORGE  J.  MINGINS. 

RESULTS. 

Seven  Mission  Stations. 
Forty  Missionaries. 
Expended  $42,687  28. 
De  Witt  Chapel  opened,  1S73. 

7874.. 

FORTY-EIGHTH  YEAR. 

President.— KEY.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.  D. 
Corresponding  Secretary.— EEY^ IS  E.  JACKSON. 
Sup't  of  Missions.— KEY.  GEORGE  J.  MINGINS. 

RESULTS. 
Six  Mission  Stations. 
Thirty  Missionaries. 
Expended  $42,687  28. 
Rev.  Thomas  Dc  Witt,  D.  D.,  President,  died  1874. 


52  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

7875. 

FORTY-NINTH  YEAR. 
President.— K.  R.  WETMORE. 
Corresponding  Secretary. — LEWIS   E.  JACKSON. 
Snft  of  Missiojts.—KEN.  GEORGE  J.  MINGINS. 
Suft  of  Female  Department.— W^?>.  A.  R.  BROWN. 

RESULTS. 

Five  Mission  Stations, 

Thirty  Missionaries. 

Expended  $39,669  96. 

Rev.  George  J.  Mingins,  Superintendent,  resigned  1875. 

:f87G. 

FIFTIETH  YEAR. 

President.— K.  R.  WETMORE. 

Corresponding  Secretary.— \.Y.'^V~>  E.  JACKSON. 

Sup't  of  Feynale  Department.— Vi^^i.  A.  R.  BROWN. 

RESULTS. 
Five  Mission  Stations. 
Thirt3'-t\vo  Missionaries. 
Expended  $37,819  11. 

AGGREGATE. 

EXPENDITURES  BY  DECADESl 

1827  to  1837 l4i>76i  39 

1837  to  1847 104,833  35 

1847  to  1857 148,496  60 

1857  to  1S67 199-S05  C9 

1867  to  1877 450,620  59 

$945,517  62 
Building  fund 100,000  00 

$1,045,517  62 
Equal  to  $20,000  per  year  for  the  whole  period  of  fifty  years,  and 
for  the  last  ten  years,  presenting  an  average  of  $50,000  per  year. 


TRACTS  DISTRIBUTED.  53 


IV. 


mACTS  2)IST!RISZr2'B^  AJV1>  MOJV£!r 

Distributed.  Expended. 

1S27 1st  year 592,127  tracts --$2,09086 

1S2S 2d  "   530.299  "     1,543  35 

1S29 3d  "   593.6S3  "     3-3S2  79 

1S30 4th  "    930.250  "     5.673  03 

1S31 sth  "    622,374  "     2,80266 

1S32 6th  "   428,734  "     5,218  78 

1S33- 7th  "   412,128  "     1,733  48 

1S34 8th  "   396,429  "     3,361  73 

1S35 9th  "   9S7.341  "     15.954  71 

1S36 ----loth  "    747,324  "     10,562  81 

1837 nth  "    - 679,193  "     - 10,229  19 

1S3S I2th  "    842,806  "     10,655  05 

1839 13th  "    764,053  "     - 10,607   10 

1S40 14th  "    684,599  "     - 10,607   10 

1841 15th  "    732,155  "     11,07500 

1842 i6th  "    778,614  "     - 9,981  61 

1S43 17th  "    848,571  "     9.78362 

1844 iSih  "    862,088  "     10,065  3' 

1S45- 19th  "    1,001,853  "     -11,26656 

1S46 20th  "    1,024,170  "     11,750  99 

1S47 2ist  "    1,252,123  "     13,997  70 

1S48 22d  "    1,308,433  "     12,675  49 

1849 23d  "    1,631,890  "     13,049  12 

1850 24th  "    1,786,279  "     13,649  46 

1S51 25th  "    1,579.756  "     15.776  76 

1S52 26th  "    1,359.403  "     ----16,531   25 


54  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

Distributed.  Expended. 

1S53 27th  year i>777.i73  tracts 17,722  18 

1S54 2Sth     "    1,523,947      "     16,879  07 

1855- 29th     ''    1,257,458      "     16,464  58 

1856 30th     "    1,183,671      "     17,483  63 

i"57--- 3'st      "   1,115.654      "     17,98636 

1S58 32d      "   1,075.3-3      "     17,378  15 

1S59 33d      " 1,016,931      "     17,10996 

1S60 34th     "   1,200,051      "     17,227  92 

i86i 35th     "   1,013,783      "     - 17,202  79 

1862 36ih     "   1,112,264      "     18,10a  00 

1S63 37th     "   1,006,901      "     21,855  oi 

1S64 38th     "  1,112,264      "    26,477  59 

1S65 39th     "   1,006,901      "    -- 29,06428 

1866 40th     "   1,076,779      "     36,108  42 

1S67 41st     "   1,007,881      "    44,691  79 

1S68 42d      "   1,310,756      "     46,245  iS 

1869- 43d      "    1,175,000      "     53.1S8  26 

1870 44th     "    1,151.394      "     -- 50,55686 

1871 45th     "    -1,000,539      "     51,030  77 

1872 46th     "    848,259      "     48,622  99 

1873 4711^     "    802,136      "     42,687  28 

1874 48th     "   669,176      "     42,687  28 

1875- 49th     "    675,000      "     39,66996 

1876 50th     "    750,000      "     37,819  II 

Aggregating  nearly  fifty  millions  of  copies  of  tracts — not  pages ; 
and  over  one  million  of  dollars  ;  an  average  of  one  million  of 
tracts  for  every  year,  with  an  annual  expenditure  of  ^20,000  for 
missionary  work. 


PLANS  AND  METHODS.  55 

V. 
TZAjyS  AjY2)  mbtmo^s. 

Pastors  and  laymen  are  continually  calling  upon 
us  for  information  as  to  the  means  and  instrumen- 
talities we  employ  in  carrying  forward  the  work  of 
city  evangelization  ;  and  we  cordially  invite  them 
to  our  missionary  conferences^  and  throw  open  the 
doors  of  our  office  and  our  mission  rooms  and 
chapels,  and  give  them  every  opportunity  of  a  per- 
sonal examination  and  study.  In  our  reports  and 
documents,  and  through  the  press  in  various  ways, 
we  are  seeking  to  give  the  Christian  public  at  large 
the  results  of  our  experience  and  observation. 

In  this  line  we  now  proceed  to  give  some 
extracts  from  the  recent  report  of  a  lay  missionary, 
in  which  he  presents  a  summary  of  his  labors  for 
fourteen  years,  believing  that  this  inside  view  of 
the  missionary  work  of  a  single  laborer,  for  a  series 
of  years,  will  not  be  without  encouragement  to  those 
engaged  in  similar  operations,  and  will  afford  matter 
of  interest  to  all.  This  missionary  says  that  during 
this  period  of  fourteen  years  he  has  given  364 
Bibles  to  different  families,  and  many  of  these  have 
learned  to  love  the  word  of  God.     He  says  of  one  : 


S6  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

"A  Roman-catholic  woman  who  had  received  a 
copy  of  the  Bible  hid  it  through  the  day,  but  when 
night  came,  and  the  board  shutters  of  her  casement 
windows  were  closed,  her  boy  read  to  her  out  of  the 
book  that  told  her  of  the  way  of  life,  and  she  drank 
in  of  the  precious  truth  with  gladness.  Another 
woman  of  the  same  faith,  to  whom  I  read  Christ's 
sermon  on  the  Mount  sprang  to  her  feet,  and 
stopped  me  several  tiipes,  exclaiming  '  Oh  how  beau- 
tiful !  how  beautiful !  I  did  not  know  that  this 
was  in  the  Bible.'  368  Testaments  have  been 
given,  mostly  to  children  attending  Sabbath-school 
who  had  no  Testaments  of  their  own  from  which  to 
learn  their  lessons.  I  have  purchased  from  time  to 
time,  as  occasion  required,  with  my  own  means, 
such  cheap  religious  books  as  I  thought  would  be 
useful,  and  I  find  I  have  given  away  242  of  such 
volumes.  I  can  trace  several  conversions  to  the 
reading  of  these  precious  books.  One  of  the  annual 
subscribers  to  the  City  Mission,  who  is  a  worthy 
member  and  an  officer  in  one  of  the  churches,  was 
thus  led  to  Christ.  1.257  children  have  been  gath- 
ered into  Sabbath-schools.  Some  of  these  were 
brought  in  by  paid  help,  employed  by  the  missionary 
to  canvass  certain  localities  which  he  was  not  able 
to  do  himself.     A  number  of  these  children  have 


PLANS  AND  METHODS.  57 

grown  up  and  become  members  of  Protestant 
churches.  Others  are  in  places  of  trust  and  profit, 
good  and  upright  citizens.  Others,  still,  are  teach- 
ing in  Mission  Sabbath-schools,  where  there  are 
scholars.  376  children  have  been  persuaded  to  go 
to  the  public  day-schools,  and  some  of  these  are 
now  teachers  in  the  schools  where  they  were  first 
placed  as  pupils.  184  young  persons  have  been 
induced  to  join  Bible  classes,  and  of  these  some  are 
now  preaching  the  gospel  of  Christ.  660  persons 
have  been  persuaded  to  attend  church.  One  of 
this  number  said  : 

" '  I  have  not  been  to  church  in  twenty-two  years.' 

Another  said  :  *  Mr. ,  you  are  the  first  man  that 

ever  prayed  in  my  family.'  130  temperance 
pledges  have  been  obtained.  Some  very  intemper- 
ate persons,  nearly  ruined,  have  been  saved  from 
the  vice  of  drunkenness,  and  brought  to  true  rejoen- 
tance  and  faith  in  Christ.  As  I  am  only  a  layman 
I  have  held  no  preaching  services,  distinctively  so 
called,  but  I  have  conducted  1,413  prayer-meetings, 
in  various  tenement  houses,  in  eleven  different  lo- 
calities, and  I  cannot  now  think  of  any  one  meet- 
ing-place in  which  there  were  not  some  souls  saved. 
In  one  house  a  meeting  was  held  weekly  for  five 
years,  in  the  room  of  a  sick  woman,  who  has  re- 


S8  GOSPEL   WORK  IX  NEW  YORK. 

covered  her  health  and  been  baptized  into  the 
spirit  of  our  city  missionary  work.  Fifty-six  backsH- 
ders  have  been  reclaimed.  The  most  of  these  came 
from  the  Old  World.  They  were  members  of  chur- 
ches in  good  standing  at  home.  Families  emigrated, 
part  at  a  time,  and  those  who  came  first  left  the 
Bible  and  religious  books  with  those  who  remained 
behind.  Here,  among  strangers,  and  not  at  once 
seeking  a  home  in  some  church,  they  were  gradu- 
ally drawn  into  worldliness,  and  at  length  were  found 
with  the  pleasure-seeking  and  Sabbath-breaking 
crowd.  The  city  missionary  going  from  house  to 
house  finds  these  wandering  sheep,  and  by  love  and 
kindness  wins  them  back  to  the  Good  Shepherd. 
I  have  made  42,000  visits  to  the  widow  and  father- 
less, the  poor,  the  rich,  and  the  dying;  and  it 
cheers  me  beyond  expression  to  think  how  many 
persons  in  these  visits  I  have  had  an  opportunity 
of  pointing  to  Jesus  ;  and  how  many,  from  their 
cold  garret  and  damp  cellar-homes,  looked  away  to 
the  Saviour  of  sinners,  and  to  the  mansions  and 
crowns  and  white  robes  reserved  for  those  who  are 
faithful  unto  death.  In  these  missionary  visits  I 
have  been  cordially  received,  with  very  few  excep- 
tions. Even  the  Romanist  has  listened  attentively 
while  I  have  talked  to  him  about  the  only  Saviour, 


PLANS  AND  METHODS.  59 

the  only  Mediator  between  God  and  man.  And 
when  I  have  prayed  with  him,  he  has  asked  God  to 
bless  mc,  and  has  said,  'You  are  the  only  man 
that  ever  prayed  with  me.'  A  scene  occurred  during 
one  of  these  missionary  visits  I  shall  never  forget. 
After  praying  with  a  poor  sick  Roman-catholic 
woman,  she  said :  '  My  priest  never  visited  me  but 
once,  and  then  he  went  away  angry  because  I  had 
sent  for  him  when  I  had  no  money  to  pay  him,  and 
he  said  he  would  never  come  again.'  I  cannot  tell 
with  what  delight,  and  with  what  faith  and  hope, 
too,  I  pointed  that  poor,  ignorant,  dying  woman  to 
Jesus,  the  great  High  Priest  who  always  cares  when 
helpless  sinners  call,  and  who  forgives  without 
money  and  without  price.  She  lived  a  few  days 
after  this,  and  left  her  dying  charge  with  a  neigh- 
bor in  these  words  :  '  Tell  the  man  who  prayed  for 
me  that  I  die,  trusting  in  the  great  High  Priest, 
who  forgives  sins  without  money.'  This  was  jDay 
enough  for  a  life  of  missionary  toil.  213  hopeful 
converts  have  united  with  Evangelical  churches, 
and  I  have  good  reason  to  believe  that  many 
more,  through  our  instrumentality,  have  been 
led  to  Jesus.  Some  persons,  during  their  last  ill- 
ness, have  given  credible  evidence  of  conversion, 
thou2:h  we  do  not  include  such  cases  in  our  statis- 


6o  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

tics.  I  remember  an  instance  of  hopeful  conver- 
sion on  a  sick-bed  ;  a  sick  man  had  long  been  visit- 
ed, and  constantly  directed  to  Jesus  as  his  only- 
Saviour,  till  he  felt  the  comforting  influence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  bearing  witness  of  his  acceptance. 
Then  came  a  priest,  and  told  him  he  was  dying, 
and  that  he  would  go  directly  to  hell,  if  he  did  not 
allow  the  offices  of  the  church  to  be  performed.  The 
sick  man  said  :  '  I  will  risk  it :  I  cannot  sink.  I  feel 
the  everlasting  arms  beneath  me.  Jesus  saves  me.' 
"  During  the  single  year  just  passed — and  this  is 
a  specimen  of  many  of  these  fourteen  years  I  have 
been  reviewing — no  families  have  been  aided,  and 
^244  have  been  expended  in  their  assistance.  The 
principal  part  of  this  money  has  been  put  into  my 
hands  by  a  gentleman  and  his  wife  for  this  purpose. 
While  preparing  this  report  I  have  been  twice  to 
the  attic  home  of  a  worthy  American  widow,  who 
was  very  comfortably  off  during  her  husband's  life- 
time. Since  then  she  has  struggled  to  support 
herself  and  four  little  ones  by  making  pants  for  37,^ 
cents  a  pair.  I  carried  her  what  money  she  lacked 
of  the  rent  and  a  basket  of  provisions.  She  said, 
'I  am  afraid  I  cannot  feed  and  cloilie  my  cliildren 
and  pay  the  rent  any  longer ;  I  shall  have  to  put 
the    three    elder    children    into    the    Half-Orphan 


PLANS  AND  METHODS.  6i 

Asylum.'  This  is  the  class  of  persons  we  aid,  and 
this  is  the  way  in  which  we  try  to  help  them  along. 
The  amount  of  money  given  to  any  one  family  has 
been  small,  but  it  has  been  accompanied  by  a  per- 
sonal visit,  when  sad  hearts  have  been  met  by  sym- 
pathy and  kindness,  and  they  have  been  led  to  think 
of  the  Father  in  heaven,  and  have  been  taught  and 
encouraged  to  pray  as  well  as  labor  for  their  daily 
bread." 

Thus  far  the  report  of  our  faithful,  laborious 
missionary.  Now  let  us  add,  that  the  City  Mission 
has,  on  its  records,  the  results  of  one  thousand 
years  of  such  missionary  labor.  That  out  of  the 
investigations  and  observations  of  these  humble 
visitors  of  the  poor,  have  grown  many  of  the  most 
valuable  and  beneficial  charities  and  reforms.  The 
work,  begun  with  a  single  man,  forty-five  years 
ago,  has  gone  on,  constantly  increasing  in  numbers 
and  influence.  Now  there  are  as  many  as  266  city 
missionaries  in  connection  with  the  various  mis- 
sions and  churches,  who  make  800,000  visits  a  year. 
And  there  are  118  mission  schools  and  chapels, 
whose  preaching  and  other  religious  and  moral  ser- 
vices, for  adults  or  children,  or  both,  are  regularly 
carried  on.  And  there  are  300  religious,  moral, 
and  charitable  societies  and  institutions. 


62  GOSPEL  WORK  TN  NEW  YORK. 

The  work  of  city  evangelization,  multifarious  as 
it  may  be  in  its  aspects,  and  special  in  its  local 
adaptation,  is  yet  a  unit  in  design,  one  and  the  same 
everywhere  and  always,  to  bring  sinners  to  Jesus. 

Our  plans  may  be  briefly  summed  up  in  these 
few  lines.  The  city  missionary  canvasses  a  given 
district ;  ascertains  its  available  points ;  finds  out 
the  accessible  families  ;  wins  his  way  by  kindness 
and  tact ;  establishes  a  prayer-meeting.  The  Holy 
Spirit  owns  the  effort.  Souls  are  converted.  These 
bring  in  others.  The  place  becomes  too  strait.  A 
mission  chapel  is  called  for.  Some  of  the  Lord's 
stewards  make  an  offering  to  the  Lord  for  his  love 
to  them,  and  soon  the  mission  building  is  reared 
and  dedicated  to  Jesus  for  his  glory,  and  given  to 
the  people  for  their  Sabbath  home.  A  minister  is 
appointed,  and  the  Christian  ordinances  are  admin- 
istered, and  the  converts  bound  together  in  a  broth- 
erhood of  love.  And  now  the  same  work  of  search- 
ing out,  and  bringing  in,  and  saving,  goes  on  as  at 
the  beginning.  The  poor  are  always  moving.  The 
tenement  houses  are  always  changing,  and  yet 
always  full.  The  ranks  of  the  poor  and  unfortunate 
are  refilled  every  day.  And  the  city  missionary's 
work  is  never  done. 


A  MISSIONARY  REPORT.  C3 

VI. 

cl  MISSIOA^.^TiT  ^iBTO^T. 

"  On  a  dark,  cold  winter  night,  a  man  was  found 
leaning  against  a  tree  on  the  Battery,  sobbing  aloud. 
On  inquiry,  it  was  found  that  on  the  morning  of 
that  day — for  it  was  the  Sabbath — -he  had  been  to 
our  mission,  and  there,  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  through 
the  truth  preached,  he  was  convicted  of  sin.  Such 
was  the  distress  of  his  mind,  that  he  was  obliged  to 
leave  his  boardinghouse  to  seek  a  place  to  weep 
and  pray.  It  appeared  that  the  sermon  brought  to 
his  mind  the  teachings  of  his  godly  mother,  and  the 
remembrance  of  the  past  broke  his  heart.  The 
missionary  gave  such  counsel  and  sympathy  as 
were  needed.  Soon  after  the  man  left  for  Boston, 
and  a  letter  since  received  announces  that  he  has 
united  with  the  church. 

"  A  man  from  Rhode  Island,  who  had  been  sep- 
arated from  his  family  two  years  by  his  intemperate 
habits,  became  so  deeply  impressed  at  the  mission, 
that  he  returned  to  his  boardinghouse  and  sought 
the  Lord  on  his  knees  until  two  o'clock  the  next 
morning,  when  God  spoke  peace  to  his  soul. 

"  A  profane,  intemperate  German  w-as  persuaded 


64  GOSPEL  WORK  IX  NEW  YORK. 

to  attend  the  mission  meeting.  He  was  brought 
under  conviction.  A  Testament  and  tracts  were 
given  him.  And  by  these  united  means  he  was 
converted,  and  is  now  useful  in  the  Lord's  vine- 
yard. 

"A  sick  woman  said,  'Two  years  ago  I  was  in 
your  chapel,  and  there  I  was  led  to  see  myself  a 
sinner.  I  did  as  I  was  told  to  do.  I  went  to  Jesus, 
and  I  found  in  him  all  that  my  soul  needed.  Eigh- 
teen months  ago  I  united  with  the  church.  I  am 
not  afraid  to  die.'  The  next  day  she  went  to  be 
with  Jesus,  whom  she  loved. 

"An  immigrant  on  his  way  to  P.,  stopping  in 
at  our  mission,  was  seriously  impressed  by  reading 
one  of  the  placard  hymns  on  the  walls  of  the  mis- 
sion, and  the  words,  'Don't  reject  him!'  went  as 
an  arrow  to  his  heart.  He  felt  he  was  guilty  of 
rejecting  Christ.  He  rose  for  prayer,  determined 
not  to  live  so  any  longer.  Two  days  after  he  called 
to  tell  of  his  new-found  hope  in  Christ. 

"Visiting  a  boardinghouse,  two  men  were  seen, 
who  said,  'One  year  ago,  as  we  were  passing  through 
the  city,  we  attended  your  mission.  Wo  were  there 
convicted  of  our  sin,  and  this  was  followed  by  con- 
verting grace.  We  are  now  members  of  the  church 
in  the  place  where  we  reside.     We  have  come  to 


WHA  T  IT  COSTS.  65 

New  York  to  meet  friends  expected  from  Eng- 
land.' 

"A  Romanist,  who  has  lately  united  with  a 
Protestant  church,  said,  '  Before  coming  to  the  mis- 
sion I  worshipped  God  through  saints  and  angels  ; 
but  now  I  have  Christ  as  my  Priest  and  Mediator.' 
Another  Romanist,  while  prayer  was  offered  on  his 
behalf,  found  peace  to  his  soul." 

And  so  the  work  goes  on.  We  go  from  house 
to  house,  compelling  the  people  to  come  in  to  our 
mission.  We  gather  the  children  into  our  mission 
Sabbath-schools.  We  have  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel  twice  every  Sabbath.  We  have  our  prayer- 
meetings  through  the  week.  We  scatter  tracts 
everywhere.     And  God  blesses  our  work.     To  him 

be  all  the  glory. 

« 

VII. 

yr^A T  IT  COSTS. 

"  It  costs  more  than  it  will  come  to,"  used  to 
be  the  fatal  objection  with  the  thoughtful  and  pru- 
dent. In  most  human  affairs  the  outgoes  and  in- 
comes may  be  calculated  with  remarkable  cer- 
tainty. In  spiritual  matters  as  well,  there  is  a  ba- 
sis of  calculation,  only  the  result  is  not  always  di- 
rectly within  reach  of  ordinary  human  estimate. 

Gospel  Work.  9 


66  GOSPEL  WORK'  IN  A^EIV  YORK. 

Here  are  eif^ht  years  and  $4,000  expended  in 
educating  a  young  man  for  the  ministry.  What 
the  returns  will  be  we  may  safely  estimate  from 
well-ascertained  facts.  Here  are  $300,000  laid  out 
in  erecting  a  church,  and  the  probable  results 
scarcely  leave  room  for  conjecture  in  the  presence 
of  reliable  data.  Just  now,  in  a  well-considered 
paragraph  in  a  religious  newspaper,  my  eye  caught 
these  lines :  "  It  costs  more  per  man  to  make 
a  Christian  in  London  or  in  New  York  than 
it  costs  in  heathendom."  My  first  thought  was, 
Well,  what  if  it  does  .-*  Does  it  cost  more  than  it 
comes  to.-*  I  can  think  of  some  of  our  mission 
converts,  now  preaching  the  Gospel  in  various 
places,  the  cost  of  whose  conversion  does  not  raise 
a  question  as  to  its  economy.  But  then,  looking 
into  the  reports  of  two  Foreign  Missionary  organi- 
zations, I  find  that  it  costs  $500  to  $1,000  to  make 
a  Christian  in  heathendom,  as  the  phrase  is. 

The  records  of  the  City  Mission  show  that  in 
fifty  years  the  total  expenditure  has  been  $1,000,000, 
or  $20,000  per  year,  and  that,  for  the  same  period, 
the  hopeful  conversions  have  been  25,000,  or  500 
per  year.  If  you  divide  $1,000,000  by  25,000  you 
will  have  $40,  as  the  average  cost  of  a  convert. 


PERSONAL  EFFORT.  67 

VIII. 

The  city  missionaries  are  constantly  laboring  to 
promote  the  cause  of  temperance  on  Christian  prin- 
ciples. Impelled  by  love,  and  armed  with  truth, 
they  go  from  day  to  day  among  the  homes  of  the 
poor,  and  in  every  way  that  Christian  ingenuity 
can  devise  seek  to  save  man  from  the  evils  of  in- 
temperance. 

One  of  these  faithful  men,  a  little  while  ago, 
was  laid  up  a  few  days  with  illness.  One  evening 
while  he  was  confined  to  his  bed,  the  door-bell  rang, 
and  the  call  being  answered,  it  was  found  that  a 
man  had  come,  bringing  a  rose-bush  in  full-bloom 
to  give  to  the  missionary  as  a  token  of  his  grateful 
regard  for  what  had  been  done  for  him.  And  what 
had  been  done  for  him  .-•  Simply  this,  and  nothing 
more :  the  missionary  had  found  the  man,  with  a 
wife  and  two  little  children,  in  the  depths  of  poverty 
and  degradation,  and  all  through  the  intemperate 
habits  of  the  husband  and  father.  The  missionary 
visited  the  family  frequently,  and  manifested  a  true 
Christian  sympathy,  and  won  the  man's  confidence 
and  respect,  so  that  he  listened  respectfully  to  his 
counsel  and  advice.     He  accompanied  the  mission- 


68  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

ary  to  the  temperance  meeting,  and  there  voluntari- 
ly signed  the  pledge,  and  resolutely  turned  his  back 
on  his  old  companions  and  his  evil  ways.  He  has 
found  business  again,  and  is  supporting  his  family, 
and  promises  well. 

This  incident  is  only  given  as  an  illustration  of 
the  hand-to-hand  and  heart-to-heart  work  of  the 
City  Mission.  It  is  by  personal  effort  for  indi- 
viduals that  souls  are  saved.  We  do  not  know  how 
to  save  masses.  But  every  day  shows  us  how  men 
are  saved.  The  returns  of  the  City  Mission  for 
the  last  month  give  us  ninety  temperance  pledges 
obtained,  and  twenty-nine  hopeful  conversions. 
This  may  seem  to  some  like  slow  work,  but  it  is 
sure.  And  the  extension  of  this  work  is  only  lim- 
ited by  the  men  and  the  means.  Given  a  sufficient 
number  of  faithful  missionaries  and  an  adequate 
supply  of  means,  and  the  results  would  be  multi- 
plied accordingly. 


IX. 

It  is  only  philosophical  that  when  one  sick  man 
has  been  cured,  he  should  tell  his  neighbor  of  his 
physician  and   the   remedy.     And   it  is   perfectly 


FRUITFULNESS  OF  FRUIT.  69 

natural  that  a  soul  who  has  found  the  balm  of  Gilead, 
and  the  good  physician  there,  should  publish  abroad 
what  grace  has  done,  and  persuade  others  to  try  the 
same.  The  records  of  City  Missions  furnish  many 
illustrations  in  point,  A  man  living  far  from  God, 
who  had  not  been  to  church  in  twenty  years,  is 
brought  under  the  influence  of  the  truth  ;  he  finds 
in  the  chapel  practical  sympathy  and  kind  con- 
sideration and  pleasant  society,  and  becoming  a  new 
man  in  Christ  Jesus,  he  at  once  goes  after  his 
neighbor,  and  brings  him  to  the  place  of  prayer. 
And,  now  and  then,  these  converts  become  mission- 
aries and  evangelists  and  preachers  of  the  gospel, 
and  are  made  instrumental  in  leading  scores  and 
hundreds  to  Christ.  So  the  fruit  of  Christian  effort 
for  souls  goes  on,  endlessly  multiplying  itself  to  all 
eternity. 

A  poor  Swede  came  into  a  chapel,  and  was  there 
taken  by  a  brotherly  hand  and  made  to  feel  at  home. 
He  soon  was  found  among  the  seekers  and  inqui- 
rers, and  was  led  along  by  degrees  until  he  emerged 
into  the  light  and  liberty  of  the  gospel.  He  became 
an  ardent  student  in  the  school  of  Christ,  and  ad- 
vanced rapidly  in  grace  and  knowledge.  The  good 
pastor  of  the  chapel,  discovering  in  his  convert  un- 
mistakable signs  of  promise,  encouraged  and  aided 


70  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

his  progress,  and  soon  he  was  in  a  course  of  prep- 
aration for  the  ministry,  and  at  length  was  duly- 
ordained  to  preach  the  gospel.  Returning  to  his 
native  country  with  a  burning  zeal  for  souls,  he 
soon  was  enabled  to  kindle  a  sacred  enthusiasm 
among  his  people,  which  led  to  gracious  spiritual 
revivals,  and  the  establishment  of  a  training-school 
and  theological  seminary  in  Stockholm,  Sweden, 
which  is  sending  out  qualified  teachers  of  the  truth 
every  year. 

The  annual  report  of  the  City  Mission  for  1859 
makes  mention  of  the  fact,  that  four  years  before, 
or  in  1855,  the  City  Missionary  laboring  among  the 
Jews  discovered  a  poor,  friendless  Jew,  and  took 
him  to  his  home  and  befriended  him.  Subsequently 
this  man  was  led  to  embrace  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus,  and  commenced  a  course  of  study,  with  the 
purpose  of  entering  upon  the  ministry  of  the  gospel, 
and  in  1859  ^^  ^^^  sent  forth  by  the  church  with 
which  he  was  connected  as  a  missionary  to  China. 
His  linguistic  knowledge  and  studious  habits  led 
the  missionary  brethren  on  the  ground  to  commit 
to  his  hand  the  work  of  translation,  and  for  several 
years  he  has  been  engaged  in  the  same.  How  he 
has  performed  the  part  assigned  him  may  be  judged 
of  in  the  following  extract  from  a  report  on  the 


HOPE  FOR  DRUNKARDS.  71 

subject;  "The  Old  Testament  has  been  translated 
by  him  out  of  the  original  Hebrew  into  a  language 
understood  by  a  population  four  times  as  large  as 
in  all  the  United  States.  This  work,  of  itself,  is 
one  of  the  grandest  monuments  which  the  human 
mind  has  ever  erected,  and  it  is  one  of  the  noblest 
trophies  of  missionary  zeal  and  learning." 

This  man,  whose  learning  and  diligence  are  so 
conspicuous  in  making  the  Mandarin  Bible,  has 
been  consecrated  a  missionary  bishop  to  China ; 
and  this  is  the  man  who  in  1855  was  led  to  Christ 
by  a  City  Missionary.  And  so  the  City  Mission 
has  been  the  agent  in  giving  missionaries  to  Sweden 
and  China.  Who  can  measure  the  far-reaching 
results  of  Christian  effort  for  souls  ?  How  truly 
the  poet  has  said : 

"  The  good  begun  by  thee,  shall  onward  flow. 
In  many  a  branching  stream,  and  wider  grow." 


X. 

As  much  interest  is  everywhere  felt  in  the 
reformation  of  drunkards,  and  in  the  operation  of 
the  asylums  and  homes  established  therefor,  an 
extract  of  a  letter  just  received  from  the  Rev.  J. 


72  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

Willett,  the  excellent  and  efificient  superintendent 
of  the  Inebriates'  Home  for  Kings  county,  is  well 
worth  attention.  After  briefly  referring  to  the 
success  and  the  failures,  the  lights  and  the  shadows, 
the  usual  history  of  such  work,  Mr.  Willett  says: 

"I  set  out  with  my  work,  believing  that  the 
grace  of  God,  which  saved  a  wretch  like  me,  knows 
no  limits,  and  can  reach  the  vilest  sinner  in  the 
universe.  Some  of  our  patients  have  come  and 
gone  once,  twice,  and  almost  a  dozen  times  to  and 
from  the  Home,  and  when  everybody  seemed  to 
have  given  them  up  in  despair,  the  Saviour  has  put 
his  hand  upon  them  and  caused  them  to  sing,  '  Oh 
to  grace  how  great  a  debtor.' 

"  But  God  usually  works  by  means.  We  have 
to  do  with  those  whose  system  is  diseased  and 
poisoned  by  rum.  There  needs  a  physical  regen- 
eration, and  in  many  cases,  especially  when  the 
brain  is  damaged  and  the  will  power  has  received 
a  shock,  long  restraint  is  essential  to  cure  and  ref- 
ormation. Mere  temporary  expedients  no  doubt 
assuage  a  deal  of  present  misery,  but  after  all  they 
seem  only  to  bridge  over  the  dangerous  gulf  from 
one  debauch  to  another,  without  effecting  much 
permanent  good.  But  oh  if  Christian  men  and 
women  would  only  make  one  united  effort  to  close 


HOPE  FOR  DRUNKARDS.  73 

the  dramshops,  nine-tenths  of  the  drunkards  of  the 
land  would  disappear. 

"  It  is  true  that  for  a  generation  there  would  be 
the  old  topers  to  care  for,  and  restrain,  but  the 
rising  generation  would  be  saved  from  this  drink 
curse. 

"  It  has  been  clearly  demonstrated,  by  carefully- 
collected  statistics,  that  pauperism  and  crime  are 
governed  by  the  number  of  drinking-places  in  any 
given  city,  as  compared  with  the  population,  and 
that,  too,  independent  of  all  provisions  which  may 
be  made  for  the  education  and  religious  training  of 
the  inhabitants. 

"When  I  was  laboring  as  a  City  Missionary,  I 
was  sometimes  distressed  beyond  measure  at  the 
thought  that  any  one  of  the  almost  numberless  rum- 
shops  in  my  district  was  destroying  more  souls  than 
I  was  made  instrumental  in  saving." 

With  this  full  understanding  of  all  the  difficul- 
ties of  the  situation,  this  faithful  man,  in  the  spirit 
of  the  divine  Master  perseveres  in  his  arduous 
undertaking,  and  is  permitted  to  see  the  fruit  of  his 
labor.  In  the  Inebriates'  Home  for  Kings  county, 
pleasantly  situated  on  the  bay,  near  Fort  Hamilton, 
there  were  treated  last  year  152  males  and  ^J 
females.     Total  239.     Of  the  patients  whose  his- 

Gosi-el  Work.  10 


74  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

tory  can  be  traced,  about  one-fourth  are  known  to 
be  doins^  well.  Others  are  improved,  several  are 
dead,  and  about  one-third  may  be  regarded  as  in- 
curable cases. 

It  should  be  known  that  this  is  the  only  institu- 
tion of  the  kind  in  this  state  that  admits  female 
patients  of  the  better  class,  and  for  these  special 
accommodations  are  provided.  Paying  patients 
will  be  received  from  any  part  of  the  country. 
Free  patients  are  only  received,  except  in  special 
cases,  from  Kings  county. 

And  it  should  be  known  to  the  City  Mission- 
aries and  laborers  among  the  poor  in  New  York, 
that  there  is  an  Inebriates'  Home  on  Ward's  Island, 
under  the  management  of  the  Commissioners  of 
Charities.  Application  for  admission  thereto, 
should  be  made  at  the  office.  No.  66  Third  avenue. 
Patients  who  are  willing  and  able  to  labor,  will  be 
admitted  without  charge,  when  they  will  be  required 
to  work  for  their  living.  Others  pay  from  $3  to 
$25  per  week  for  board,  as  may  be  agreed  upon, 
and  are  not  expected  to  labor. 

Homes  for  the  care  and  cure  of  drunkards  are 
being  opened  in  Boston,  Philadelphia,  and  in  other 
cities,  and  much  is  being  accomplished.  At  our 
Carmel  Chapel  in  the  Bowery,  and  "at  the  Helping 


TRACT  WORK.  75 

Hand  in  Water  street,  and  indeed,  we  may  say,  at 
all  the  missions  stations,  the  faithful  City  Mission- 
aries are  using  their  utmost  efforts  to  rescue  men 
from  the  evils  of  intemperance.  Let  all  good  men 
pray  for,  and  help  on,  these  earnest  self-denying 
laborers. 


XI. 


T'EACT  WO^K. 

In  the  great  revivals  of  1830-5,  tract  visitors 
were  conspicuously  useful  in  inviting  people  to 
church,  and  in  following  them  with  prayer  and  effort. 
In  1836,  Rev.  Dr.  E.  F.  Hatfield,  then  pastor 
of  the  Seventh  Presbyterian  Church,  reviewing  the 
labors  of  the  previous  season,  wrote  of  these  useful 
operations  as  follows :  "  On  the  first  Sabbath  of 
February  last  I  gave  notice  that  our  house  of  wor- 
ship would  be  opened  every  evening  in  the  week 
for  divine  service  ;  at  the  same  time  I  requested 
the  tract  visitors  to  take  the  opportunity  on  the 
following  day  to  distribute  the  monthly  tract,  and 
invite  every  family  in  their  several  districts  to  at- 
tend the  meetings,  or  if  they  had  already  distributed 
the  tract,  to  make  a  special  visit  for  the  purpose  of 
persuading  all  to  attend.     In  the  course  of  the  two 


76  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

or  three  following  clays,  I  have  reason  to  believe 
that  almost  every  family  in  the  ward  that  was  ac- 
cessible, and  not  connected  with  some  other  de- 
nomination, had  thus  received  notice  of  the  meet- 
ings, and  been  urged  to  attend.  It  pleased  the 
Lord  wonderfully  to  manifest  his  power  at  that 
season  in  saving  souls  by  the  preaching  of  the  word. 
Not  less  than  four  hundred  souls  were  converted 
to  God,  of  whom  about  three  hundred  connected 
themselves  with  my  church.  Of  those  thus  received, 
the  great  majority  were  heads  of  families,  and  very 
many  of  them  strangers,  persons  who  had  only  oc- 
casionally been  seen  in  our  church,  and  some  of 
them  scarcely  once  or  twice  a  year.  I  have  every 
reason  to  believe  that  many  of  them  were  induced 
to  come  by  the  urgency  of  the  tract  visitor,  and 
many  of  them  declared  that  such  was  the  case  ; 
indeed,  during  the  whole  month,  these  visitors,  sev- 
enty or  eighty  in  number,  were  abundant  in  labors." 
And  in  all  the  subsequent  history  of  evangelis- 
tic movements,  the  same  general  plan  of  operations 
has  been  prosecuted.  The  formation  of  new  asso- 
ciations, and  the  adoption  of  new  methods,  have 
somewhat  modified  the  old  ways  of  working,  yet  all 
Christian  workers  are  led,  sooner  or  later,  to  feel 
that  it  is  personal  effort — which  is  only  another 


TRACT  WORK.  yy 

name  for  tract  effort — that,  after  all,  is  to  be  relied 
upon  as  the  most  effective  agency  for  bringing  souls 
to  Christ. 

The  pastor  of  one  of  our  city  mission  churches,  in 
a  recent  report,  says  :  "  The  spiritual  influences 
abroad  in  the  land  have  visited  us  with  their  bless- 
ings, awakening  a  new  interest  in  the  things  of 
Christ's  kingdom.  Our  meetings  have  been  excep- 
tionally well  attended,  and  those  for  social  prayer 
and  conference  have  been  more  generally  partici- 
pated in.  Many  who  never  before  have  taken  any 
part,  have  heartily  spoken  for  Jesus,  and  to  edifica- 
tion, and  there  has  also  been  apparent  a  general 
earnestness  in  seeking  the  salvation  of  souls.  In 
the  matter  of  volunteer  tract  distribution,  a  new 
impulse  has  been  imparted,  so  that  the  number  en- 
gaged in  this  work  has  more  than  doubled  during 
the  past  two  months.  All  my  experience  in  this 
work  among  the  poorer  classes  encourages  me  in 
my  labor,  and  I  greatly  esteem  and  value  the  zeal 
and  cooperation  of  my  faithful  tract  visitors." 


78  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

XIL 
SOW  TO  II^^I.T  TUB  TOO^. 

The  city  missionary  is  charged  with  the  care  of 
souls,  and  his  first  duty  is  to  spread  the  good  tidings 
of  the  gospel  feast ;  and  wherever  he  goes  among 
the  poor  and  sick  and  afflicted  and  distressed,  he 
desires  to  be  known  as  a  Christian  teacher,  making 
known  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  With  good  judg- 
ment and  ready  tact  he  deals  wisely  with  the  appli- 
cations made  for  temporal  relief,  and  applies  such 
means  as  are  committed  to  his  hands  for  distribu- 
tion in  such  ways  as  will  not  only  not  hinder  his 
more  spiritual  work,  but  will  the  rather  more  surely 
promote  his  success  in  the  main  business  of  deal- 
ing with  souls. 

The  past  winter  season  has  been  exceptionally 
trying,  in  that  cases  of  great  physical  suffering  have 
abounded,  and  the  means  of  affording  relief  have 
been  seriously  restricted,  and  the  city  missionary^ 
as  a  burden-bearer,  has  been  nearly  overwhelmed 
with  the  sins  and  the  sorrows  he  could  not  allevi- 
ate. How  the  city  missionary  labors  at  his  spirit- 
ual work,  and  affords  occasional  relief  to  the  poor 


HOW  TO  HELP  THE  POOR.  79 

without  pauperizing  them,  may  be  seen  in  the  fol- 
lowing extract  from  a  recent  report :  "  I  found  the 
wife  of  a  man,  once  in  prosperous  circumstances, 
now  living  in  an  obscure  basement.  She  was  sick, 
which  gave  me  the  opportunity  to  proffer  some 
needed  delicacies,  and  the  kindness  so  won  upon 
the  woman's  confidence  that  she  frankly  told  me  of 
her  husband's  struggles,  how  hard  they  had  strug- 
gled to  keep  up  and  conceal  from  their  neighbors 
their  real  condition  of  want.  It  was  a  pleasure  to 
minister  to  the  necessity  of  those  who  would  have 
suffered  long  in  silence  rather  than  make  known 
the  want  which  was  pressing  both  her  and  her  hus- 
band to  the  direst  extremity.  I  had  a  very  frank 
and  candid  conversation  with  the  sick  woman  in  ref- 
erence to  the  claims  of  religion,  and  she  knew  and 
acknowledged  them,  and  professed  her  desire  to 
become  a  Christian,  and  yet  in  a  cautious  way,  that 
showed  she  did  not  wish  to  commit  herself  to  the 
extent  of  promising  what  she  did  not  in  her  heart 
feel  determined  to  fulfil.  My  visits  have  been  re- 
peated, and  after  awhile  I  ascertained  that  once  she 
had  hoped  in  Christ  and  had  intended  to  join  the 
church,  but  for  some  reason  had  delayed  the  duty. 
Now  she  is  evidently  concerned  about  her  neglect 
and  anxious  to  take  a  stand  for  Christ,  and  is  look- 


8o  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

ing  forward  with  pleasure  to  the  time  when  she  will 
be  publicly  received  into  church  fellowship. 

"  A  year  ago  I  had  become  interested  in  a  man 
who  promised  well,  aided  him  in  securing  employ- 
ment, and  thought  he  was  getting  along  nicely, 
when  he  fell  to  drinking  and  soon  lost  his  place, 
and  neglected  his  family  and  disappointed  all  my 
hopes.  During  the  season  just  past  I  had  met  this 
man  a  number  of  times,  and  on  one  or  two  occa- 
sions he  had  told  me  how  hard  he  was  struggling 
to  get  bread  for  his  family,  but  had  not  asked  me 
for  aid,  probably  because  of  his  consciousness  of 
having  abused  the  confidence  I  had  reposed  in  him 
the  previous  winter.  However,  I  met  him  again 
one  day,  and  walked  with  him  some  distance,  and 
had  a  very  plain  talk  with  him,  telling  him  how 
much  we  had  been  disappointed  in  him  in  the  expe- 
rience of  the  former  winter.  He  confessed  all,  and 
more  than  all  I  had  reproached  him  with,  but  said 
he  had  bitterly  repented  his  misconduct,  and  was 
resolved  never  to  taste  liquor  again.  He  appeared 
so  humble  and  sincere,  I  accepted  his  confessions, 
and  engaged  to  give  him  needed  encouragement 
and  help.  He  attended  a  prayer-meeting,  and  was 
strengthened  in  his  good  resolutions,  and  volunta- 
rily signed  the  temperance  pledge,  and  gives  ever)? 


IVHA  T  CAN  I  DO  ?  8i 

indication  of  his  determination  to  persevere.  He 
frequently  calls  and  expresses  his  gratitude  for  the 
good  counsel  given  him,  and  speaks  of  his  wonder- 
ful change,  as  he  calls  it.  He  feels  as  if  he  were  In 
a  new  world.  The  prayer-meeting  is  his  delight, 
the  Bible  is  his  daily  guide,  and  he  seems  to  be 
travelling  in  the  paths  of  pleasantness  and  peace. 
He  is  supporting  his  family,  and  will  soon  be  able 
to  help  others  in  distress.  And  this  is  the  way  that 
city  missionaries  aid  the  poor — helping  them  to 
help  themselves  ;  and  not  only  this,  but  showing 
them  how  to  help  others  also.  Self-help  is  the  best 
help  for  the  poor,  and  the  soul  of  charity  is  charity 
for  the  soul." 

XIII. 

The  question  recurs,  "What  can  I  do  i*"  Much 
will  depend  on  your  age,  sex,  condition,  advantages, 
the  number  and  the  kind  of  talents  God  has  put 
into  your  hand.  You  must  consider  these,  and  lay 
out  your  capital  to  the  best  advantage.  Let  us 
mention  some  fields,  and  you  can  consider  if  there 
be  any  one  of  them  you  could  cultivate. 

Your  own  family.     Are  all  its  members  godly  ? 

G.isiiel  Work.  1  1 


82  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

Have  they  all  a  place  in  the  church  ?  No  ?  Then 
you  have  a  work  at  your  door.  Pray,  reflect  ;  look 
for  the  side  on  which  you  can  bring  help.  There 
is  a  child  not  receiving  any  teaching.  There  is  a 
want  of  religious  reading  even  for  Sabbaths.  The 
child  could  be  got  to  Sabbath-school.  A  good  se- 
rial could  be  got  to  tempt  the  careless  to  read. 
There  is  no  regular  attendance  at  church,  no  seat 
in  a  church  perhaps.  Could  you  manage  to  get  this 
arranged  }  There  are  servants  in  the  house .''  Are 
they  Christians  .-*  Or  do  you  know  anything  about 
them  .-*  Inquiry  even  might  do  good.  Try  all 
ways  at  home.  A  light  is  brightest  to  those  who 
are  closest  to  it. 

Your  relatives — how  is  it  with  them  }  Are  they 
Christians  .''  All }  Some  are  not,  not  even  being 
approached.  Can  you  approach  them  with  affec- 
tion, gentleness,  at  the  right  time,  and  in  the  right 
way  }  Do  you  live  so  that  they  will  respect  you 
and  attach  weight  to  what  you  say  .-•  Do  you  carry 
yourself  so  that  they  will  love  you  .''  You  are  the 
very  person  of  all  others,  perhaps,  to  bring  the 
truth  to  a  cousin,  an  aunt,  a  nephew.  Remember 
how  Joseph  provided  bread  for  his  brethren  and 
their  liouseholds,  ill  as  they  treated  him. 

Who  lives  next  door }     Are  those  neifrhbors  to 


IVHA  T  CAjV  I  DO?  83 

whom  you  bow  on  the  steps  Christians  ?  Have 
they  a  pastor  ?  Do  the  children  learn  saving  truth  ? 
When  they  are  sick,  do  you  show  them  the  gentle 
side  of  Christianity — that  which  it  turns  to  the  suf- 
fering ?  Do  you  offer  any  comfort  in  sorrow  ?  They 
know  you  to  be  a  Christian,  perhaps.  They  must 
wonder  that  you  have  no  care  for  their  souls.  Per- 
haps they  think  your  religion  is  only  a  form.  You 
will  be  and  they  will  be  at  the  judgment-day.  What 
will  there  be  to  look  back  on  of  effort  made  for 
them  .'' 

In  what  congregation  do.  you  worship  .-*  Is  the 
minister  ever  cast  down }  Are  all  the  committees 
fuU  and  in  good  spirits  .■"  Is  there  any  part  of  the 
work  falling  behind .''  Could  you  help  it  on  .-•  You 
have  some  place  already.  Do  you  fill  it  effectively  .'* 
Do  you  really  "take  hold".-*  Are  you  doing  your 
work  with  your  might  .-* 

There  are  various  "societies"  around  you. 
They  find  it  hard  to  get  working  members  of 
boards  and  committees.  You  would  be  amazed  to 
learn  how  hard  it  is  for  some  of  them  to  get  a  quo- 
rum at  meetings  for  business.  They  have  "honor- 
ary members"  and  ornamental  members,  nominal 
members  and  contributing  members,  who  give  mon- 
ey and  nothing  else  ;  and  secretaries  have  great 


84  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

trouble  to  contrive  for  the  faithful  doing  of  the  busi- 
ness. Could  you  aid  ?  Do  you  help  with  your 
means  ?  To  be  sure,  the  societies  are  not  all  per- 
fect ;  but  they  all  do  some  and  many  of  them  much 
good  that  might  not  be  done  otherwise. 

"  Who  are  with  you  in  the  office .''"  Other 
young  men  do  not  fail  to  tell  of  the  theatres,  en- 
tertainments, and  "sights"  they  enjoy.  You  have 
heard  of  their  pleasures.  Do  you  tell  them  with 
equal  enthusiasm  of  yours  .-*  They  tell  of  their 
"good  times,"  advertise  their  haunts,  and  commend 
their  entertainers.     Do  you  .-• 

But  you  are  a  lady.  Well,  how  are  the  poor 
neighbors  around  you  .-'  Are  there  any  girls  likely 
to  grow  up  without  knowing  the  use  of  a  needle .-' 
Sewing-schools,  free,  once  a  week,  taught  by  la- 
dies, and  their  toils  with  scissors  and  stitches  re- 
lieved by  a  pleasant  hymn  and  a  Scripture  verse, 
and  consecrated  by  a  prayer — which  perhaps  the 
poor  little  girls  never  joined  in  at  home — such  have 
done  great  good. 

Are  there  any  rough  boys  around  you,  growing 
up  in  godlessness,  getting  ready  for  the  peniten- 
tiary ?  A  Christian  lady  is  just  the  person  to  do 
some  of  them  good.  Her  sex  wins  deference,  ex- 
cept from   the  worst ;  and  her  gentleness  softens 


WHAT  CAN  I  DO?  S5 

them.  Are  there  any  poor,  overworked  mothers 
near  you,  to  whom  life  is  perpetual,  unrelieved  toil  ? 
"Mothers'  meetings"  have  done  them  good.  They 
need  not  be  large  ;  indeed  a  small  meeting  is  often 
best,  for  you  can  get  near  their  burdened  hearts. 
They  cannot  go  to  church,  or  get  dressed,  or  get 
their  clothes  settled,  "for  the  children."  There  i^ 
a  way  of  carrying  the  church  and  the  truth  and  all 
Christian  charities  to  them. 

Are  there  any  near  you,  accessible  to  you,  clear- 
ly going  to  ruin  1  There  is  your  neighbor's  son 
learning  to  drink.  You  saw  him  reeling  the  other 
evening.  "  Run,  speak  to  that  young  man."  A 
timely  word  may  save  him.  The  woman  who  waits 
on  you  is  becoming  entangled  in  a  bad  association. 
She  is  your  sister — fond  of  you,  perhaps — will  you 
let  her  go  unwarned  .'* 

"  Ah,  but,"  you  say,  "  it  is  so  hard  to  do  these 
things  ;  it  requires  a  sacrifice."  Just  so.  The 
Lord  knows  that.  He  says  so  :  "  With  such  sacri- 
fices God  is  well  pleased."  Rev.  Dr.  Hail. 


86  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

XIV. 

TSB  SOUZ   THAT  STAJVDS  J\rEXT  TO  rOV. 

It  is  disheartening  to  find  now-a-days  so  many 
people  on  a  strain.  Everybody  seems  determined 
to  do  a  big  thing  or  nothing.  One  wants  a  fresh 
field  ;  one  wants  more  scope  ;  another  wants  to  try 
a  new  instrument.  Whereas  the  field  that  is  near- 
est is  the  best  for  anybody.  Think  of  this  vast 
world  of  ruin  and  sin  all  around  us,  actually  touch- 
ing us  at  every  point.  How  it  welcomes  even  the 
least  help  which  is  honestly  offered  to  it !  Did  you 
ever  lay  your  finger  upon  the  edge  of  a  bird's  nest, 
when  the  mother  was  absent,  and  mark  how  blindly, 
but  instinctively,  those  callow  necks  and  open  bills 
all  stretched  up  towards  you  for  food }  So  the 
whole  human  race  stands  expectant.  If  you  have 
any  good  to  offer,  it  is  folly  to  talk  about  a  fresh 
field.  There  are  a  million  hearts  all  round  you  that 
need  it.  And  your  earliest  office  is  to  aid  the  soul 
that  stands  next  to  you. 

Then  as  to  more  scope,  it  is  enough  to  say  that 
any  one  who  is  really  in  earnest  can  find  all  the 
organizations,  all  the  appliances,  all  the  helps  he  can 
possibly  employ.     I  do  not  believe  in  those  people 


THE  SOUL  NEXT  TO  YOU.  S; 

who  think,  or  assert,  that  the  ordinary  churches  to 
which  we  all  belong  are  Laodicean,  or  that  they  fail 
of  their  end.  I  have  no  confidence  in  such  persons 
who  grow  busy  in  framing  associations  and  organ- 
izing societies,  but  never  get  to  work  in  real  service. 
I  feel  anxious  about  the  souls  that  stand  next  to 
them.  I  was  struck  with  the  wit  and  wisdom  of  a 
reply  I  once  overheard.  One  of  my  ministerial 
brethren,  of  rare  common  sense,  was  asked  what  he 
thought  about  these  new-fangled  sisterhoods,  pro- 
posed in  certain  quarters.  He  answered,  "  I  think 
very  well  of  the  sisters,  but  I  cannot  say  I  admire 
the  hoods." 

Also  as  to  the  instruments,  one  word  of  depre- 
cation is  needed.  Our  Sunday-school  conventions 
are  full  of  models  as  the  Patent-ofifice  is  full  of  pat- 
terns. Even  in  grace  I  readily  admit  there  may  be 
economy  of  spiritual  force  in  a  measurable  use  of 
labor-saving  machines.  But  one  may  learn  a  les- 
son from  the  satire  of  even  Gulliver's  Travels,  The 
tailor  in  Laputa  took  the  measure  of  his  customers 
for  a  suit  of  clothes  by  trigonometry  ;  and  yet  it  is 
not  recorded  that  he  escaped  danger  of  a  misfit. 
We  may  exhaust  much  valuable  energy  in  mere 
friction  of  apparatus.  And  that  is  a  most  unhealthy 
movement,  when  it  is  discovered  that  helps  have 


88  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

become  hindrances.  That  is  to  say,  every  subter- 
fuge which  occupies  time  and  diverts  attention  to 
itself,  so  as  to  turn  any  Christian's  effort  away  from 
commonplace  personal  work,  and  the  quiet  use  of 
the  Scriptural  means,  every  excuse  found  in  the  un- 
welcomeness  of  the  field,  every  delay  forced  by  the 
search  after  a  fresh  way  of  doing  things,  is  suspi- 
cious. Huii,ian  endeavor  will  find  spiritual  reward 
best  in  laboring  for  the  soul  that  stands  next  to  us. 

Rev.  C.  S.  Robinson,  D.  D. 


XV. 

DOIJVG  OJVJS'S  ^UTT. 

Of  one  period  of  this  old  earth's  history  it  stands 
recorded,  "  There  were  giants  in  those  days."  This 
certainly  was  before  our  time.  The  age  we  live  in  is 
not  altogether  heroic.  But  now  and  then  there  are 
stories  in  the  papers  of  souls  who  die  for  right  and 
die  for  duty.  It  flashes  out  in  unanticipated  brillian- 
cy, as  a  new  truth,  that  fidelity  to  commonplace  de- 
mands is  a  species  of  fine  heroism.  Thus  some,  whose 
lives  or  calling  we  deem  homely,  suddenly  appear 
shining  in  the  royal  robes  of  a  manhood  unques- 
tioned.    A  soldier,  the  father  of  a  family,  the  sena- 


DOING  ONES  DUTY.  89 

tor  of  a  state,  puts  his  written  order  for  an  advance 
in  his  hatband,  goes  straight  to  what  he  knows  is 
death,  and  in  an  hour  lies  silent  with  a  bullet  in  his 
brain.  An  engineer  sees  a  drawbridge  open,  and 
knows  there  is  safety  for  those  he  bears  in  his  train 
only  by  the  sacrifice  of  his  own  life;  one  moment 
of  decision  ends  it  ;  and,  face  upwards  in  the  stream, 
with  the  locomotive  crushing  his  chest,  the  simple- 
minded  hero  goes  out  in  the  silence,  while  the  saved 
passengers  waken  with  the  shock  that  plants  them 
across.  And  just  now  there  rises  on  our  kindled 
imagination  the  form  of  that  sea-captain  who  went 
quietly  forward,  as  the  ship  kept  sinking,  lifting  the 
women  over  the  side  into  boats,  pistol  in  his  hand, 
demanding  obedience  of  the  crew ;  then  at  last  his 
wife,  six  months  a  bride,  is  led  over  the  ladder,  and 
from  the  tossing  thwart  looks  back  for  her  last  upon 
the  form  of  her  brave  husband,  and  pleads  to  go  on 
the  deck  again  and  die  with  him.  The  night  is  dark 
in  the  Channel,  but  no  star  ever  glittered  in  gloom 
so  brightly  as  that  fine  figure  of  manhood  glistens 
in  our  remembrance  when  we  think  of  him  faithful 
to  the  end.  Somehow  we  feel  constrained  to  iden- 
tify ourse-lves  with  such  people.  If  there  can  be 
any  funeral,  we  are  bound  to  be  there.  We  walk  in 
the  procession.    We  reverently  lay  hold  of  one  cor- 

G.srol  Woik.  12 


90  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

ncr  of  the  pall.  A  common  brotherhood  claims  us. 
Nor  does  the  impression  end  in  mere  pitiful  admi- 
ration. For  all  time  thereafter,  wherever  the  lan- 
guage is  spoken,  the  pure  become  purer,  the  brave 
become  braver,  the  manly  become  manlier.  We 
straighten  up  to  more  height,  like  proud  children, 
when  our  parents'  names  are  repeated  with  praise. 
We  walk  with  foreheads  cleared  of  clouds,  and 
actually  begin  to  believe  in  men. 

In  our  times  we  have  very  little  conception  of 
what  is  meant  by  martyrdom  of  that  savage  and 
extreme  kind  which  Stephen  endured.  Men  estab- 
lished Christianity  by  dying  for  its  confirmation. 
They  are  enabled  now  to  commend  it  better  by  liv- 
ing for  its  spread.  It  is,  therefore,  not  an  ambition 
for  us  to  cherish,  even  with  high  heroics,  in  these 
quieter  days,  when  piety  kept  decorously  has  grown 
respectable,  to  advance  to  the  edge  of  the  precipice 
singing,  and  under  the  hail  of  stones  dashing  life 
into  atoms,  seek  the  presence  of  the  blessed.  Our 
privilege  ought  to  be  the  dearer  because  it  is  really 
the  more  difificult  to  glorify  God  in  some  tame  and 
commonplace  way.  Thus  it  comes  to  pass  that 
holy  living  and  brave  dying  are  most  intimately 
connected.  There  are  modest  men  and  gentle  wom- 
en, all  over  this  Christian  world  of  ours,  who  day  by 


DOING  ONE'S  DUTY.  91 

clay  do  duty  as  finely  as  ever  Stephen  did,  and  who, 
when  the  last  day  comes,  peacefully  make  ready  to 
die  with  all  of  his  triumph,  and  yet  none  of  his  show. 
Indeed,  few  raptures  of  the  deathbed  are  ever  stri- 
king enough  to  be  put  into  print.  Most  lamps  go 
out  quietly  as  the  oil  fails.  And  in  the  majority  of 
instances  it  comes  to  pass  that  we  have  to  ponder 
the  sweet,  dear  record  of  unobtrusive  excellence 
some  little  time  before  we  fairly  see  that  a  great 
life  has  entered  the  shadows  and  is  gone.  He  can 
hardly  be  considered  a  manly  man  who  does  not 
wish  for  this  posthumous  tribute  of  affectionate 
remembrance.  How  simple  and  bare  are  such 
words  as  these,  perhaps  spoken  by  some  pall-bear- 
ers, "  devout  men,"  at  our  funeral :  "  He  was  a  faith- 
ful man,  and  did  his  duty."  Yet  it  seems  as  if  they 
would  make  the  cold  face  and  heart  stir  in  the 
coffin !  Oh,  the  beauty  and  glory  of  one's  being 
dead,  and  yet  speaking,  so  that  what  is  honest  and 
true  and  pure  and  gentle  and  Christlike  is  helped 
and  encouraged.  Rev.  C.  S.  Robinson,  D.  D. 


92  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  XEW  YORK. 

XVI. 
TAJi:B  ;A  STAJV^. 

When  Daniel  went  to  Babylon,  he  took  his 
stand  ;  the  meat  and  the  wine  which  were  offered 
him  he  refused  to  eat.  He  knew  that  the  wine  had 
been  offered  up  to  idols,  and  he  refused  to  partake 
of  what  had  been  thus  polluted.  He  saw  that  the 
law  of  God  and  the  law  of  the  great  king  Nebu- 
chadnezzar were  in  conflict,  but  he  obeyed  the  law 
of  God.  He  was  a  man  of  faith  and  of  belief.  In  ten 
days  he  looked  healthier  than  any  of  those  who  ate 
as  the  king  had  ordered.  He  had  taken  his  stand 
for  God,  and  God  blessed  him.  Young  man,  you 
that  have  just  come  to  New  York,  is  there  not  a 
lesson  in  this  story  for  you  .-'  Does  your  employer 
ask  you  to  work  on  Sunday  t  Take  your  stand. 
If  God's  law  conflicts  with  man's,  adhere  to  the  liv- 
ing God.  He  will  help  you.  You  may  have  prom- 
ised that  loving,  praying  mother  of  yours  that  you 
would  not  go  to  the  theatre.  Are  you  tempted  to 
go .''  Does  some  friend  invite  you  and  urge  you  to 
go  with  him  .-'  Take  your  stand.  Learn  to  say  No. 
Yield  with  no  compromise.  It  is  this  miserable, 
compromising  spirit  that  ruins  so  many.    Supposing 


TAKE  A  STAND.  93 

we,  of  these  times,  had  been  in  Babylon  when  Dan- 
iel was  tempted.  Why,  we  'd  have  advised  some- 
thing like  this  :  "  Now,  Daniel,  you  know  you  are 
not  in  Jerusalem.  You  're  a  poor  heathen  captive" 
— now  here's  the  advice  of  the  Christianity  of  the 
nineteenth  century — "  you  're  in  Babylon,  Daniel, 
and  do  as  the  people  of  Babylon  do.  You  know 
wine  is  better  than  water,  and  water  wont  agree 
with  you.  The  water  of  the  Euphrates  will  make 
you  sick.  We  know  that  the  wine  has  been  offered 
to  idols,  but  God  will  wink  at  it  if  you  drink  while 
you  are  down  here."  But,  thank  God,  that  man 
took  his  stand,  and  kept  his  faith. 

The  king  had  a  dream,  and  Daniel  said,  "  I  '11 
tell  the  king's  dream,  only  give  me  time."  Ah,  see 
what  faith  he  had.  He  knew  that  God  would  keep 
him  right.  And  that  night  he  prayed  long  and 
faithfully  that  God  would  reveal  the  secret.  He 
went  to  sleep  and  had  a  dream,  in  which  God  re- 
vealed the  secret.  He  arose  and  went  to  the  king 
and  was  asked  if  he  could  tell  the  dream.  Daniel, 
with  the  same  faith  in  God,  said  that  his  God  was 
able  ;  he  gave  God  all  the  glory.  He  told  the  king 
what  he  had  dreamed,  how  his  Chaldean  kingdom 
would  be  overthrown  and  divided,  how  Greeks  and 
Romans  and  others  would  overrun  it  and  divide  its 


94  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

possessions.  "That's  my  dream,"  said  Nebuchad- 
nezzar; and  an  edict  went  forth,  making  Daniel  a 
ruler  among  the  mighty.  l)Ut  another  trial  came. 
The  king  ordered  his  image  to  be  set  up  on  the 
plains.  There  are  three  men  there  who  will  not  bow 
down  to  it.  They  are  Shadrach,  Meshach,  and 
Abed-nego.  And  the  king  is  very  angry,  and 
orders  the  furnace  to  be  heated  seven  times  hotter. 
And  when  they  came  forth,  with  not  so  much  as  a 
hair  of  their  heads  burned,  another  edict  went  forth, 
that  any  man  who  said  anything  against  the  God  of 
Shadrach  should  incur  the  wrath  of  the  king.  Young 
man,  will  you  take  your  stand  as  these  men  did  .-' 

D.  L.  Moody. 

XVII. 

^AJSTGB^  OP  JVBGZBCTIJVG  OJVB  CSIZ^. 

A  REMARKABLE  case  of  Criminal  inheritance  has 
been  traced  back  during  the  past  year  by  the  New 
York  Prison  Association,  showing  the  overwhelm- 
ing importance  to  the  community  of  caring  for  even 
two  or  three  vagrant  children. 

About  one  hundred  years  ago,  there  lived  on 
the  borders  of  two  or  three  forest  lakes  in  Ulster 
county,  New  York,  a  little  vagrant  girl  called  "  Mar- 
garet, and  four  sisters,  some  of  whom  were  of  ille- 


DANGER  OF  NEGLECTING  ONE  CHILD.     95 

gitimate  birth.  They  seem  to  have  been  in  no 
respect  different  from  hundreds  of  Httle  girls  in  and 
around  this  city  who  yearly  come  under  the  care  of 
this  Society.  Their  parents  were  poor,  roving  peo- 
ple, who  made  their  living  partly  by  hunting  and 
fishing,  and  partly  by  stealing.  They  lived,  like 
our  poor  city  children,  crowded  in  shanties,  where 
old  and  young,  male  and  female,  slept  in  the  same 
rooms.  Like  our  street  children,  they  never  went 
to  school  or  attended  church.  They  grew  up  al- 
most untouched  by  the  morality  and  religion  of  the 
day.  In  the  winter  they  were  aided  by  the  out- 
door relief  of  the  authorities,  or  by  kind-hearted 
persons,  and  in  the  summer  they  lived  on  game 
and  on  their  plunder  from  farms  and  barnyards. 
Probably  as  most  people  passed  little  Maragret,  the 
future  "mother  of  criminals,"  they  looked  on  her 
as  people  do  now  on  the  little  ragged  street-sweep- 
ers they  meet  on  our  streets,  either  with  utter  in- 
difference or  with  hopelessness,  as  on  an  irreclaim- 
able vagabond,  or  with  disgust,  as  one  with  whom 
the  decent  and  virtuous  should  have  nothing  to  do. 
The  little  Margaret  grew  up  thus  to  a  wicked 
womanhood. 

In  a  recent  visit  to  the  Kingston  jail,  the  able 
official  of  the  Association,  Mr.  Dugdale,  came  upon 


96  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

the  following  criminals,  all  of  whom  he  found  to 
belong  to  the  same  family  :  the  oldest,  a  man  fifty- 
five  years  of  age,  awaiting  trial  for  receiving  stolen 
goods  ;  his  daughter,  aged  eighteen,  (subsequently 
arrested  as  a  prostitute,)  held  as  a  witness  against 
him  ;  her  uncle,  aged  forty-two,  for  burglary  in  the 
first  degree  ;  the  illegitimate  daughter  of  the  latter's 
wife,  aged  twelve  years,  upon  which  child  he  had 
attempted  violence,  and  who  was  awaiting  sentence 
for  vagrancy,  and  two  brothers,  aged  n-ineteen  and 
fourteen,  accused  of  an  assault  with  intent  to  kill, 
they  having  pushed  a  child  over  a  cliff  forty  feet 
high,  and  nearly  killed  him  by  the  fall. 

He  traced  back  the  genealogy  of  these  crimi- 
nals, and  discovered  that  the  ancestor  of  them  all 
was  the  little  vagrant  girl  of  whom  we  have  spoken, 
or  her  sisters.  This  stimulated  his  efforts,  and 
after  immense  labor  he  finally  brought  to  light  the 
following  striking  facts  as  to  this  unhappy  family: 

Seven  hundred  and  nine  (709)  descendants  of 
Margaret  and  her  sisters  are  accurately  tabulated, 
whose  names  are  mainly  taken  from  public  records. 
Of  these  91  are  known  to  be  illegitimate,  and  368 
legitimate,  leaving  250  unknown  as  to  birth.  One 
hundred  and  twenty-eight  (128)  are  known  to  be 
prostitutes,  18  kept  houses  of  bad  repute,  and  6"] 


DANGER  OF  NEGLECTING  ONE  CHILD.     97 

were  diseased,  and  therefore  cared  for  by  the  public. 
Only  22  ever  acquired  property,  and  eight  of  these 
lost  what  they  had  gained.  One  hundred  and  for- 
ty-two (142)  received  out-door  relief  during  an  ag- 
gregate number  of  734  years,  64  were  in  the  alms- 
house of  the  county,  and  spent  there  an  aggregate 
number  of  96  years  ;  76  were  publicly  recorded  as 
criminals,  having  committed  115  offences,  and  been 
1 16  years  in  jails  and  prisons. 

The  crimes  of  the  females  were  licentiousness, 
and  those  of  the  males  violence  and  theft.  But  the 
record  we  have  quoted  is  merely  their  public  histo- 
ry of  criminality,  which  is  necessarily  very  imper- 
fect. Great  numbers  of  the  offences  of  this 
wretched  family  were  never  entered  on  any  court 
records,  and  hundreds  were  never  even  brought  to 
trial.  It  is  well  known  that  this  young  "  mother  of 
criminals"  and  her  sisters  have  poured  a  stream  of 
disease,  licentiousness,  insanity,  idiocy,  pauperism, 
and  crime  over  the  county  now  for  a  hundred 
years.  This  fearful  current  has  not  yet  ceased  to 
flow,  as  some  of  the  descendants  in  the  sixth  gen- 
eration survive  in  our  own  House  of  Refuge. 

Fifty  per  cent,  of  all  direct  female  descendants 
of  Margaret  became  prostitutes,  and  of  the  whole 
stock,  from  the  age  of  twelve    upwards,  fifty  per 

Gospel  Work.  13 


98  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

cent,  are  found  to  be  of  disreputable  character. 
Murder  or  attempts  to  murder  appear  among  the 
males  in  every  generation  except  the  sixth,  where 
the  children  are  not  older  than  seven  years.  For- 
gery is  found  but  once  on  their  records.  Theft  ap- 
pears everywhere. 

Another  appalling  feature  in  this  history  of 
criminal  inheritance  is  the  disease  spread  through 
the  county  by  these  vagrant  children,  and  the  con- 
sequent lunacy,  idiocy,  epilepsy,  and  final  weakness 
of  body  and  mind  which  belong  to  inherited  pau- 
perism, transmitted  to  so  many  human  beings. 

Mr.  Dugdale  has  traced  still  farther  the  line, 
and  makes  it  probable  that  the  aggregate  of  the 
descendants  of  these  vagrant  children  reach  the 
large  amount  of  1,200  persons  living  and  dead. 

The  cost  of  their  almshouse  relief  he  estimates 
as  $15,000,  and  their  out-door  relief  as  $32,250  to 
Ulster  county  ;  the  maintenance  of  the  prisoners  of 
this  family  at  $100  per  annum,  as  $14,000  ;  the  cost 
of  arrest  and  trial  at  $100  for  each  case,  at  $25,000 ; 
the  amount  of  property  stolen  or  destroyed  by  them, 
at  $15,000,  and  so  on  in  various  items,  until  he 
reaches  the  sum  of  $1,023,600  as  the  cost  to  Ulster 
county  and  the  state  of  New  York  for  neglecting 
one  vasfrant  child  and  her  miserable  little  sisters. 


//oil'  TO  SAVE  SOULS.  99 

XVIII. 
HOir  TO  SATB  SOZTLS. 

Souls  are  saved  through  the  agency  of  the 
truth  ;  therefore,  it  is  the  duty  of  every  one  to 
endeavor  to  be  familiar  with  the  truth,  by  the  study 
of  the  Bible  and  good  books,  and  by  strict,  faithful, 
and  prayerful  attention  to  the  preached  word. 
Without  familiarity  with  the  truth,  no  Chiistiancan 
become  useful  in  the  highest  degree. 

You  can  work  for  Christ — 

By  giving  and  lending  tracts  and  good  books. 

By  punctually  meeting  all  your  religious  en- 
gagements. 

By  persevering  efforts  to  bring  acquaintances 
and  strangers  to  the  prayer-meetings  and  Sabbath 
services  of  the  church,  and  by  learning  or  teaching 
in  the  Sabbath-school. 

By  cultivating  a  spirit  of  sociability  and  Chris- 
tian fellowship,  especially  among  members  of  the 
church,  and  in  the  house  of  worship. 

By  visiting  the  sick,  the  poor,  strangers  and 
acquaintances,  in  the  spirit  of  the  Master. 

By  cordial  attention  to  strangers. 

By  endeavoring  to  be  familiar  with  the  progress 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth,  as  indicated  by 


100  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

the  great  Christian  enterprise  of  the  church,  at 
home  and  abroad. 

By  giving,  as  God  hath  prospered  you,  punc- 
tually and  regularly,  for  the  current  expenses  of 
your  church,  and  for  the  salvation  of  the  world. 

By  earnest  and  regular  secret  prayer  for  the 
prosperity  of  your  own  church,  and  the  whole  church 
of  Christ. 

By  testimony  for  Christ,  many  are  awakened, 
and  others  edified.  "Go  home  to  thy  friends,  and 
tell  them  how  great  things  the  Lord  hath  done  for 
thee." 

By  holding  neighborhood  prayer-meetings  with 
the  advice  of  pastor  and  elders.  In  this  way  great 
good  is  often  done. 

By  direct  personal  appeals  to  the  unconverted 
to  come  at  once  to  Christ.  Every  Christian  ought 
to  win  souls  to  the  Saviour. 

By  studiously  conforming  to  Christian  principles 
in  all  business  transactions. 

XIX. 

A  MISS  10 JT  CajVYJEIlT  2iBC0MBS  A. 
MISSlOJS^ATir. 
Forty  years  ago  a  family  of  English  immigrants 
arrived  in   this  citv   whose   character   and   habits 


A  MISSION  CONVERT  A  MISSIONARY.     loi 

promised  nothing  but  degradation  and  ruin  for 
themselves,  and  harm  and  loss  to  the  community. 
The  father  was  a  man  of  fair  natural  abilities,  had 
seen  something  of  the  world,  was  a  good  mechanic, 
and  capable  of  filling  a  respectable  position  in  life, 
but  he  had  given  a  loose  rein  to  sensual  appetites 
until  the  barriers  of  self-restraint  were  swept  away 
and  he  and  his  sons  alike  had  become  intemperate, 
improvident,  and  reckless,  and  the  place  they  called 
home  was  the  abode  of  strife  and  confusion  and 
every  evil  work. 

This  father  and  one  of  his  sons,  after  much 
persuasion,  were  induced  to  attend  a  religious 
meeting  which  had  been  commenced  in  their  neigh- 
borhood, especially  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
were  not  reached  by  the  ordinary  means  of  grace. 
At  the  close  of  the  meeting  a  few  words  were 
addressed  to  them  alone,  and  they  were  urged  to 
attend  to  the  interests  of  their  souls.  The  father 
said  curtly :  "  If  we  are  to  be  saved,  we  shall  be ; 
and  if  not,  all  that  we  can  do  will  be  of  no  avail," 
and  walked  away. 

To  the  surprise  of  those  who  knew  their  natural 
stubbornness  and  prejudice,  they  appeared  in  the 
meeting  again  the  next  week,  and  when  they  were 
spoken  to  in  a  friendly  way  after  the  service,  it 


102  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK 

appeared  that  the  Holy  Spirit  had  already  brought 
them  to  some  reflection,  for  now  the  reply  was 
soberly  given  :  "  Either  we  are  wise  and  you  are 
fools,  or»we  are  fools  and  you  are  wise." 

The  following  week  found  them  again  in  the 
place  of  prayer,  listening  with  evident  interest  to 
the  simple  presentation  of  the  gospel.  And  now, 
when  personally  addressed,  the  reply  came  in  the 
form  of  the  inquiry :  "  Men  and  brethren,  what  must 
I  do  ?"  It  was  plain  that  the  father,  at  least,  had 
determined  on  a  new  course,  and  he  was  encouraged 
and  aided  in  every  way  that  Christian  love  could 
devise.  Such  had  been  his  manner  of  life,  and  such 
the  strength  of  evil  habits  and  the  pernicious  influ- 
ence of  his  bad  example,  that  his  way  seemed  beset 
with  the  most  formidable  difficulties ;  but  he  felt 
that  every  obstacle  must  be  overcome,  he  must  go 
forward  or  he  must  die ;  and  casting  himself  upon 
the  Lord,  he  was  enabled  to  persevere. 

After  a  few  days  he  said  to  his  family :  "  I  can 
no  longer  sit  down  to  partake  of  the  bounties  of  a 
kind  Father  without  asking  his  blessing."  This 
opened  the  way  for  family  worship,  which  he  next 
instituted,  and  at  the  prayer-meeting  soon  after,  he 
took  part  in  the  service,  calling  upon  the  name  of 
the  Lord,  and  with  a  broken  and  contrite  spirit 


A  Af/SS/OA'  CONVERT  A  MISSIONARY.    103 

confessed  his  sins.  In  the  language  of  a  child  he 
spoke  of  his  wanderings,  and  of  the  way  in  which 
Providence  had  led  him.  He  praised  God  for  hav- 
ing brought  him  to  this  land,  and  placed  him  under 
such  gracious  influences.  "  Oh  !  who  would  have 
expected,"  he  exclaimed,  "  to  find  such  a  worthless 
worm  of  the  dust  among  the  people  of  God .''"  He 
soon  made  an  open  profession  of  his  faith  in  the 
Redeemer,  and  took  his  family  to  church  and  his 
children  to  Sabbath-school. 

As  might  be  expected,  this  great  outward  moral 
revolution  was  attended  with,  and  followed  by,  the 
most  marked  change  in  the  outward  life  and  sur- 
roundings ;  the  whole  aspect  of  the  family  was 
altered  for  better,  and  their  condition  in  every 
respect  greatly  improved.  Having  been  furnished 
with  a  small  capital,  they  were  enabled  to  go  on 
with  their  trade — work,  more  than  they  could 
accomplish,  was  offered  them — all  were  busy,  and 
all  comparatively  happy. 

It  may  well  be  supposed  that  this  man,  saved 
through  the  faithful  exertions  of  active  Christians, 
would  himself  feel  a  peculiar  interest  in  similar 
efforts ;  and  soon  he  was  seen  engaged  in  going 
from  house  to  house,  as  he  could  find  time,  speak- 
ing in  plain  honest  phrase  of  a  Saviour's  love,  and 


104  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEIV  YORK. 

gathering  people  into  the  house  of  prayer ;  and 
not  without  effect,  for  the  Holy  Spirit  owned  and 
blessed  these  humble  endeavors,  and  many  were 
converted  to  God.  And  so  he  continued  for  years 
to  labor  with  such  marked  consistency,  prudence 
and  skill,  that  his  brethren  felt  that  the  Spirit  had 
designated  him  for  the  work,  and  he  was  according- 
ly appointed  as  a  missionary,  and  in  this  relation 
served  his  Master  with  great  zeal  and  success  for 
twenty  years,  when  he  went  to  his  grave  in  a  full 
age,  like  as  a  shock  of  corn  cometh  in,  in  his  season. 


XX. 

Among  the  recent  deaths  has  been  that  of  a 
good  man,  known  for  thirty  years  as  Pastor  Hed- 
strom  of  the  Bethel  Ship,  or  Mission  for  Scandina- 
vians, at  Pier  No.  ii,  North  River.  And  this  re- 
vives some  recollections  of  the  commencement  of 
the  missionary  operations  among  that  interesting 
people,  which  I  will  briefly  narrate. 

Some  years  prior  to  1845,  ''-  young  sea-captain, 
Roland  Gelston,  was  converted,  and  at  once  com- 
menced a  life  of  Christian  activity,  as  a  tract  visitor 
among  seamen.      In  the  prosecution  of  his  labors, 


SCANDINA  VIAA'S.  105 

he  visited  sailors  in  the  New  York  Hospital,  laid  a 
tract  upon  the  breast  of  a  sleeping  Swedish  sailor, 
who,  upon  awaking,  read  it,  and  resolved,  if  spared, 
to  enter  upon  a  new  life.  This  man  was  Peter 
Bergner,  who  came  to  be  connected  with  the  Mari- 
ner's church,  then  in  Roosevelt  street,  under  the 
care  of  Rev.  Henry  Chase.  Bergner  was  by  trade 
a  ship-carpenter,  and  while  at  his  work  would  talk 
to  such  of  his  countrymen  as  he  found,  and  per- 
suade them  to  come  to  his  house,  where  he  would 
talk  and  pray  with  them.  Meantime  a  ship,  the 
Henry  Leeds,  had  been  purchased,  dismantled,  and 
fitted  up  as  a  church  by  the  Wesleyan  Methodists. 
These  people  attempted  the  maintenance  of  a  mis- 
sion to  seamen,  longshoremen,  and  others,  and 
Bergner  obtained  permission  to  hold  meetings  also 
for  his  countrymen. 

Bergner,  working  in  the  First  ward,  soon  came 
under  the  notice  of  the  city  missionary  of  the  ward, 
who  at  once  brought  the  man  and  his  work  to  the 
attention  of  his  associates  in  the  City  Mission,  and 
great  interest  was  awakened  in  behalf  of  the  Scan- 
dinavian population.  Statistics  were  gathered,  and 
a  statement  was  prepared  and  laid  before  the  Mis- 
sionary Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
At  the  same  time  the  Bethel  ship  had  been  given 

Gosi.cl  Work.  14: 


io6  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

up  by  the  Wesleyan  Methodists,  and  was  for  sale, 
and  Mr.  Hedstrom  was  within  reach,  so  the  Mission- 
ary Society  made  an  appropriation,  and  the  Meth- 
odist church  authorities  appointed  Mr.  Hedstrom  as 
missionary  to  the  Scandinavians,  and  he  commenced 
his  work  in  1845,  ^'^^  with  him  Peter  Bergner,  as  a 
true  yokefellow,  labored  most  faithfully  for  twenty 
years,  or  until  his  death,  in  1866,  being  sustained 
in  his  work  by  the  City  Mission. 

From  this  first  evangelical  missionary  effort 
among  the  Scandinavians  in  this  country  has  come 
the  following  statistical  results,  gathered  from  the 
last  Annual  Report  of  the  Missionary  Society  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  It  appears  that 
in  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Norway  together,  there 
are  81  ministers,  87  churches  and  preaching  places, 
and  8,409  communicants.  And  in  the  Scandina- 
vian missions  in  this  country  there  are  70  ministers, 
70  churches,  and  5,190  communicants.  And  be- 
side this,  other  Protestant  denominations  have  been 
equally  active  in  instituting  missions  among  the 
people,  and  show  gratifying  returns  for  their  work. 
So  a  little  seed  has  become  a  tree,  according  to  the 
word  of  the  Lord. 


THE  COSMOPOLITAN  CITY.  107 

THE   COSMOPOLITAN   CITY, 

Hardly  any  city  has  a  greater  variety  of  popula- 
tion than  New  York.  Not  only  are  all  the  sections 
and  states  of  the  Union  represented  here,  but  most 
of  the  nations  of  the  earth.  The  State  Census  of 
1875  gives  the  number  of  persons  born  in  Ireland 
as  199,084,  and  if  we  add  to  this  for  the  children  of 
Irish  parentage  born  in  this  city,  100,000,  we  may 
estimate  the  Irish  population  at  300,000.  From 
the  same  census  we  learn  that  the  number  of  per- 
sons born  in  Germany  is  165,021,  and  adding  85,000 
to  this  for  the  children  of  German  parents  born  in 
this  city,  we  may  suppose  that  the  German  popula- 
tion is  not  far  from  250,000.  Other  nationalities 
are  given  as  follows :  Persons  born  in  England, 
26,913  ;  in  Scotland,  7,635  ;  in  Canada,  3,979.  Then 
there  are  thousands  of  French,  Italians,  Spaniards, 
Cubans,  and  Portuguese,  and  numbers  of  Russians, 
Swedes,  Finns,  South -Americans,  Norwegians, 
Mexicans,  Greeks,  Poles,  Japanese,  Bohemians, 
Chinese,  East-Indians,  with  a  few  Armenians,  Si- 
amese, Hawaiians,  Arabs,  Copts,  Malays,  Thibe- 
tans, and  Turks.  Forty  different  languages  are 
heard  in  our  streets.  Among  all  these  people  the 
city  missionary  goes,  carrying  the  Scriptures  and 


io3  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

the  tracts  in  their  various  tongues,  and  showing 
that  friendly  interest  and  Christian  sympathy  that 
needs  no  interpreter  but  the  human  heart. 

XXI. 

ZiriJVG  AJVD  TBACHJJVG  2HJS  GOSTJSL 
OF"  CS'RIST. 

When  Christ  had  finished  the  work  of  laying 
the  foundations  of  his  kingdom  in  the  world,  in  pre- 
cisely what  state  did  he  leave  it }  He  passed  out 
of  the  view  of  men.  He  has  never  manifested  him- 
self to  their  gaze  since.  How  much  did  he  leave 
behind  him  ?  Moses  wrote  the  law  ;  Jesus  Christ 
wrote  nothing.  The  prophets  wrote  their  prophe- 
cies ;  Jesus  Christ  wrote  nothing.  He  lived,  he 
spoke,  he  acted,  he  wrought,  he  died,  he  arose,  he 
ascended  into  heaven.  He  left  just  simply  the 
memory  of  what  he  was,  and  what  he  said,  and 
what  he  did.  It  is  a  matter  sometimes  of  amaze- 
ment to  thoughtful  men,  that  our  Lord  did  not 
leave  from  his  own  hand  the  portrait  of  himself,  the 
record  of  his  words,  the  history  of  his  deeds.  He 
left  only  a  memory ;  but  memory  is  the  action  of 
the  mind,  It  must  have  existed  then  in  the  mind 
of  men,  and  only  there.     It  comes  to  this  :  Jesus 


LIV'IXG  AND  TEACHING  THE  GOSPEL.    IC9 

Christ  left  in  the  world  a  few  men  and  women  like- 
minded  with  himself,  with  whom  was  the  same 
spirit  which  was  also  in  Jesus.  And  that  was  all. 
Our  Lord  did  not  leave  a  long  statement  of  the 
truth.  He  left  men,  women.  If  thereafter  the 
truth  was  to  be  known,  it  must  be  known  from 
them.  If  thereafter  the  truth  must  be  proved,  it 
must  be  proved  in  them  and  by  them.  If  thereafter 
the  truth  was  to  be  illustrated,  it  must  be  illustrated 
in  their  life  and  death.  Our  Lord  might  have 
turned  to  his  few  followers  as  hs  ascended  upon  the 
clouds  of  heaven,  and  said,  after  the  manner  of  an 
apostle  who  said  to  his  pupils,  "  Ye  are  my  epis- 
tles— ye  are  my  gospel."  Men  and  women,  then, 
were  to  remember  the  person  of  Christ,  to  cherish 
his  character,  to  recall  his  words  and  works,  and 
then  go  about  telling  all  he  was,  whatever  they 
could  remember  of  what  he  had  said,  so  much  as 
they  could  distinctly  recall  of  what  he  had  done. 
In  that  state,  in  such  keeping  to  be  continued  and 
propagated  by  such  instruments,  our  Lord  left  that 
kingdom  which  he  came  down  from  heaven  to  estab- 
lish in  the  earth.  This  explains  our  whole  relation 
to  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  our  whole  work  for 
the  kingdom  of  Christ.  We  are,  first,  to  know 
Jesus  ;  we  are,  second,  to  preach  Jesus.     Now  let 


no  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

me  distinguish  between  certain  facts  historical  and 
biographical  about  Jesus  and  knowing  Jesus  him- 
self. Very  many  of  the  Jews  knew  the  events  in 
the  personal  history  of  Jesus  Christ.  Very  many 
of  them  had  overheard  his  discourses.  Very  many 
of  them  had  witnessed  his  miracles.  Some  of  them 
had  seen  him  die.  Some  were  aware  of  his  resur- 
rection. Some  had  heard  of  his  ascension.  But 
they  did  not  comprehend  him.  His  disciples  seem 
to  have  been  let  somewhat  into  the  secret  of  his 
person,  the  principles  of  his  character,  and  the 
power  of  his  holiness.  Take,  for  example,  any  Jew 
who  among  the  throng  of  followers  had  witnessed 
the  teaching  and  the  working  of  Jesus,  and  com- 
pare his  knowledge  and  appreciation  of  him  with 
the  knowledge  and  appreciation  of  that  disciple 
whom  Jesus  loved.  The  one  knew  Jesus  Christ 
by  name  and  exterior  life  ;  the  other  knew  him  by 
nature  and  by  the  interior  and  divine  life.  And  it 
seems  to  me  that  Jesus  gave  more  gospel  in  simply 
living  before  his  disciples  than  even  He  who  spake 
as  never  man  spake  would  have  uttered  in  any  lan- 
guage given  to  mortals,  or  brought  down  from  im- 
mortals. And  this  seems  to  have  been  the  larger 
part  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  We  have  a  few  con- 
versations recorded,  but  exceedingly  short.      We 


LIVING  AND  TEACHING  THE  GOSPEL,    in 

have  a  few  instructions  that  seem  to  be  parts  of 
extended  discourses,  but  they  are  exceedingly  brief. 
What  he  was,  was  more  than  what  he  said.  What 
he  manifested  was  more  than  he  could  utter.  What 
he  did  was  gospel.  And  so  he  seems  to  have 
gathered  the  disciples  around  him  that  they  might 
know  him.  He  ate  bread  with  them.  He  lay  down 
to  sleep  with  them.  He  went  through  all  the  com- 
mon offices  of  the  humblest  life  in  its  intensest  sim- 
plicity in  companionship  with  them.  He  spoke 
naturally  as  opportunity  was  afforded  or  occasion 
demanded.  He  answered  questions,  he  resolved 
difficulties,  he  consoled  griefs,  he  relieved  troubles. 
What  he  did  say  seems  rather  to  have  been  drawn 
out  of  him  than  offered  spontaneously  by  him,  and 
so  we  find  his  sayings  all  intermixed  with  history, 
and  not  set  apart  by  themselves  in  separateness.  I 
believe  that  the  philosophy  of  the  mission  of  Jesus 
is  to  be  found  in  the  fact,  that  he  was  the  bright- 
ness of  the  Father's  glory,  the  express  image  of  his 
person.  He  was  the  Godhead  embodied.  To  give 
gospel  was  to  show  himself.  Beyond  that,  to  be 
sure,  he  was  to  die  for  man's  guilt,  to  be  humbled 
in  the  dust  of  death  that  he  might  rise  again  for 
man's  justification.  And  on  the  cross  there  is  the 
gospel  also,  but  the  person  dying  there  for  sinners 


112  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

is  again  the  gospel.  So  throughout,  as  a  manifes- 
tation of  the  nature  of  God  and  as  a  fulfihnent  of 
the  will  of  God,  Jesus  Christ,  acting  while  he  lived 
and  dying  when  his  life  was  lived  through,  was  him- 
self gospel.  Rev,  Joseph  T.  Duryea,  D.  D. 


XXII. 

WATB^  ST'RB£:T. 

Ten  years  ago  a  faithful  and  laborious  city  mis- 
sionary, now  entered  into  his  rest,  was  stationed 
near  the  Five  Points.  Often  his  heart  was  stirred 
within  him  as  he  saw  crowds  of  unfortunate  and 
friendless  men  drifting  past  him  ;  and  wishing  to 
do  them  good,  he  drew  them  into  his  mission  room  ; 
and  when  they  were  hungry  he  fed  them  from  his 
own  table  ;  and  at  night,  instead  of  sending  them 
to  the  police  station  for  lodging,  gave  them  a  blan- 
ket and  a  place  on  the  benches  in  the  mission  room. 
This  practical  philanthropy  becoming  known,  two 
of  our  down-town  merchants  craved  the  privilege 
of  furnishing  the  means  necessary  to  carry  on  the 
good  work,  and  have  ever  since  contributed  to  it 
liberally.  In  process  of  time  it  became  expedient 
to  change  the  location  of  the  mission  station,  and 


JVA  TER  STREE  T.  113 

one  of  the  leading  Nassau  street  bankers  having  on 
his  hands  a  house  in  Water  street,  which  he  had 
purchased  to  redeem  from  the  rum-trade  and  the 
business  of  prostitution,  offered  the  same  to  the 
City  Mission  for  their  benevolent  purposes. 
Through  the  aid  of  members  of  the  Executive 
Committee  and  their  friends  the  premises  were 
cleaned  and  furnished,  and  opened  for  a  free  read- 
ing-room for  workingmen  and  for  religious  meet- 
ings. So  much  encouragement  attended  this  effort 
that  it  was  resolved  to  rebuild  ;  and  last  fall  a  plain, 
substantial  brick  building  was  erected  on  the  same 
ground,  316  Water  street,  and  the  place  is  now 
known  as  the  "  McAuley  Water-street  Mission," 
and  meetings  are  held  every  evening  of  the  week 
and  twice  on  the  Sabbath,  and  all  are  well  at- 
tended. 

Since  the  humble  effort  first  commenced  ten 
years  ago  at  the  Five  Points,  the  work  of  reclaim- 
ing the  wandering  and  saving  the  abandoned  has 
been  steadily  gaining  in  public  favor  and  confi- 
dence. The  new  and  attractive  rooms  opened  at 
316  Water  street  are  witness  to  the  faith  of  Chris- 
tian men  that  the  gospel  can  lift  up  even  from  the 
dens  and  slums  of  the  Fourth  ward.  And  five 
years  ago  a  similar  enterprise  was  started  in  the 

15 


114  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

Bowery,  near  Grand  street,  reaching  perhaps  a  little 
better  class  of  men,  younger  in  years  generally,  and 
not  so  far  gone  in  sin  ;  and  three  thousand  men 
each  year  are  reached  and  benefited  in  one  way 
and  another  through  this  chapel  and  its  useful  ad- 
juncts. 

In  all  our  city  mission  chapels  gospel  temper- 
ance meetings  are  regularly  carried  on,  and  those 
who  sign  the  pledge  are  visited  and  encouraged 
and  kindly  looked  after  ;  and  numbers  of  men  give 
credible  evidence  of  a  radical  change  in  heart  and 
life,  and  are  supporting  themselves  respectably. 
Any  one  can  see  the  money  value  of  these  mission- 
ary operations  that  take  men  who  are  a  burden  and 
expense  to  society  and  transform  them  into  useful, 
self-supporting  citizens  and  taxpayers. 


XXIII. 
TSB  MASSJB^S. 


There  is  a  great  deal  of  irresponsible  and  reck- 
less talk  about  what  are  of  late  years  called  "  The 
Masses."  Some  people  speak  of  curing  the  evils 
among  the  masses — as  if  they  were  all  diseased. 
Some  urge  a  reformation  of  the  masses — as  if  they 


THE  MASSES.  115 

were  all  vicious.  Some  suggest  that  the  social  sys- 
tem be  reconstructed  from  the  very  foundations — • 
as  if  the  masses  were  bricks  or  blocks,  and  would 
be  improved  by  being  laid  over  again.  Philanthro- 
pists and  politicians,  divines  and  demagogues,  are 
all  declaiming  about  the  masses. 

Just  in  order  to  receive  correct  ideas  upon  this 
great  subject,  it  is  proper  sometimes  to  venture  in 
one's  own  behalf  an  analysis  of  a  vast  multitude  of 
men,  women,  and  children ;  such,  for  instance,  as 
that  our  Saviour  saw  from  the  heights  of  Golan, 
when  the  people  followed  him  around  the  shore  of 
Tiberias.  "And  Jesus,  when  he  came  out,  saw 
much  people,  and  was  moved  with  compassion  tow. 
ard  them,  because  they  were  as  sheep  not  having 
a  shepherd."  The  crowd  seemed  just  like  one  of 
those  vagrant  flocks  he  was  accustomed  to  notice 
on  the  slopes  of  such  grassy  hills. 

The  significant  part  of  Jesus'  comment  is  found 
in  the  suggestion  of  what  these  people  lacked,  and 
not  of  what  they  had.  It  was  the  spectacle  of  a  neg- 
ative, and  not  of  a  positive.  Let  us  get  this  clear. 
What  is  cold  .''  The  mere  absence  of  heat.  What 
is  darkness  ?  The  mere  absence  of  light.  What 
is  ignorance  .-•  Absence  of  knowledge.  What  is 
sickness  }    Absence  of  health.    Is  it  always  wicked 


ii6  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

to  be  chilly,  or  sightless,  or  unlearned,  or  ill  ?  That 
depends  upon  circumstances.  A  negative  may  be- 
come so  severe,  however,  as  to  be  a  fearful  reflection. 
They  used  to  make  me  laugh  when  I  was  a  child,  tell- 
ing me  of  some  sandbanks  by  the  seashore  which 
caved  away  and  left  the  holes  of  the  homeless  swal- 
lows sticking  straight  out  in  the  air.  But  I  have  seen 
a  lack  so  extensive  that  it  became  a  prominent  pro- 
tuberance in  a  life,  nevertheless.  As  our  Lord  saw 
that  throng,  and  marked  their  excited  looks,  their 
aimless  hurry,  he  compared  them  to  a  flock  unfold- 
ed, unprotected,  and  unled.  They  were  sheep,  not 
with  anything,  but  without  something  ;  not  with 
diseases,  but  without  a  shepherd.  A  shepherd  is 
everything  to  sheep.  Such  a  negative  lack  is  a 
positive  loss.  It  may  suggest  new  thought  con- 
cerning the  masses,  to  contemplate  what  they  miss, 
as  well  as  what  they  manifest. 

It  would  be  a  salutary  exercise  for  any  Chris- 
tian to  go  where  he  can  spend  a  meditative  hour  in 
full  view  of  a  vast  city.  There  is  something  ex- 
ceedingly impressive  in  that  voluminous  body  of 
sound  which  rises  upon  the  ear,  listening  carefully 
to  it  from  some  high  position  overlooking  the 
scene.  Remember  that  this  solemn  murmur,  seem- 
ing so  like  the  majestic  roar  of  the  sea,  is  not  by 


CO-OPERA  TION.  \  1 7 

any  means  the  roll  of  inanimate  water  against  rocks 
without  nerves.  It  is  all  alive.  It  is  made  up  of 
sighs  and  songs,  words  and  wailings,  shouts  of 
laughter  and  groans  of  pain,  friendly  greetings  and 
bitter  explosions  of  wrath.  All  these  are  mingled 
together  and  wrought  into  the  same  substance,  the 
pure  and  the  foul  alike.  As  we  listen  to  it,  it  rep- 
resents one  great  swell  of  emotion  absolutely  in- 
stinct with  vitality.  It  is  thoroughly  human  as  you 
and  I,  when  we  speak  or  weep  or  pray,  are  human. 

Rev.  C.  S.  Robinson,  D.  D. 


XXIV. 

CO  -  OTB'RA  2I0JV. 

The  New  York  City  Mission  and  Tract  Socie- 
ty, established  on  the  common  faith  of  evangelical 
Protestant  Christianity,  and  working  on  the  plan  of 
Christian  union  and  cooperation,  has  always  culti- 
vated fraternal  relations  with  all  who  were  working 
in  the  same  line,  and  often  joins  its  labors  with 
those  of  kindred  societies  to  the  great  advantage 
of  both.  At  the  present  time  such  organizations 
of  mutual  helpfulness  exist  between  the  City  Mis- 
sion and  several  societies,  among  which  may  be 


n8  GOSPEL  WORK  hY  NEW  YORK. 

named  the  New  York  Bible  Society,  the  Associa- 
tion for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the  Poor,  the 
Children's  Aid  Society,  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  the  Five  Points  House  of  Industry, 
and  the  Home  of  the  Friendless. 

The  public  mind  is  sometimes  exercised  with 
the  apparently  excessive  multiplication  of  charita- 
ble societies,  and  insists  that  all  of  kindred  aims 
shall  be  united  in  one  organization.  How  far  this 
would  be  wise  or  practicable  is  left  for  others  to 
determine.  For  those  who  are  actively  engaged  in 
carrying  on  the  societies,  it  remains  that  they 
should  study  to  promote  reciprocal  action  between 
the  several  charitable  organizations,  with  a  view  to 
greater  economy  and  efficiency  in  the  administra- 
tion of  relief,  the  exposure  of  professional  beggars, 
the  prevention  of  pauperism  and  crime,  and  the 
moral  elevation  of  the  worthy,  industrious  poor. 
For  the  purpose  of  giving  accurate  information 
concerning  the  charitable  work  in  operation  in 
New  York,  the  City  Mission  has  for  fifteen  years 
been  giving  to  the  public,  with  the  beginning  of 
each  year,  a  pamphlet  of  150  pages,  with  descrip- 
tive lists  of  all  the  benevolent  societies  and  institu- 
tions. And  that  this  publication  meets  a  felt  neces- 
sity is  shown  in  the  number  of  applications  which 


CO-OPERATION.  119 

are  constantly  made  for  it  from  January  to  Decem- 
ber. In  gathering  the  facts  and  statistics  for  this 
volume,  the  Secretary  personally  visits  every  insti- 
tution in  the  city  and  studies  the  history  of  each. 

Lately  I  have  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing 
something  of  the  good  work  being  done  among 
seamen,  so  many  thousands  of  whom  visit  our  port. 
In  the  Church  of  the  Sea  and  Land,  Market,  cor- 
ner of  Henry  street,  Rev.  Edward  Hopper,  D.  D., 
pastor,  I  found  a  very  large  number  at  the  weekly 
prayer-meeting,  and  learned  that  the  work  of  grace 
among  the  seamen  was  going  on  without  intermis- 
sion. In  the  old  Mariner's  Church,  corner  of"  Mad- 
ison and  Catharine  streets,  Rev.  E.  D.  Murphy, 
pastor,  there  has  been  a  powerful  work  going  on 
for  two  years,  and  thousands  of  sailors  have  been 
reached  through  missionary  efforts. 

The  Children's  Aid  Society,  in  its  lodging- 
houses  for  homeless  boys,  is  doing  an  admirable 
work.  The  First  Ward  Reading-Room  for  Work- 
ingmen,  located  in  the  upper  part  of  the  De  Witt 
Chapel,  135  Greenwich  street,  is  a  bright,  cheery 
place,  and  attracts  to  its  pleasant  rooms  hundreds 
of  the  class  for  whom  it  was  designed.  Jerry  Mc- 
Auley  is  constantly  picking  up  the  poor  fellows 
drifting  through  the  low  places   of  Water  street, 


I20  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

and  the  Carmel  Chapel,  134  Bowery,  extends  a 
helping  hand  to  the  wandering  men  who  have  lost 
their  way. 

If  any  one  would  like  to  see  and  hear  of  the 
progress  that  Gospel  Temperance  is  making  among 
these  men,  let  them  visit  Carmel  Chapel,  134  Bow- 
ery, on  Monday  evening,  or  Calvary  Chapel,  163 
Worth  street,  on  Tuesday  evening,  or  De  Witt 
Chapel,  135  Greenwich  street,  on  Wednesday  even- 
ing. Let  our  good  people  visit  the  charitable  in- 
stitutions, and  examine  in  detail  the  work  as  it  is 
in  progress,  that  they  may  form  an  intelligent  judg- 
ment of  their  merits,  and  so  be  better  prepared  to 
distribute  their  patronage. 


XXV. 

yro'Ji£:iJVGMjrjv's  czzrss. 

The  promoters  of  the  workingmen's  club  move- 
ment appeal  to  the  public  for  contributions  in  aid 
of  the  Lebanon  Club.  The  movement  is  not  de- 
signed to  add  to  the  charities  of  New  York,  but  to 
furnish  workingmen  with  healthy,  moral.  Christian 
forms  of  entertainment  and  instruction,  and  places 
of  resort  where  they  may  be  free  from  the  vicious 
and  degrading  influences  to  which  they  are  exposed 


WORKINGMEN'S  CLUBS.  121 

by  their  present  only  available  resorts — the  rum- 
shops.  The  men  themselves  will  sustain  the  clubs 
when  once  they  have  been  established  by  their 
friends.  The  success  of  the  clubs  in  England,  es- 
pecially in  London  and  Liverpool,  and  the  fact  that 
the  work  here  is  advised  and  supported  by  some  of 
the  most  prominent  men  among  our  clergy  and 
laity,  who  have  been  connected  with  and  have  wit- 
nessed the  results  of  the  work  there,  is  a  guarantee 
of  the  like  success  here. 

"  The  Christian  world  is  doing  wrong  in  not 
doing  more,  not  only  in  charity,  but  in  sympathy," 
was  the  impressive  remark  of  Rev.  Dr.  John  Cotton 
Smith,  at  a  meeting  in  his  church  for  the  encour- 
agement of  the  plan  which  has  proved  so  successful 
in  England  and  in  this  country,  the  establishment 
of  workingmen's  clubs,  not  distinctly  religious,  and 
by  no  means  with  the  aspect  of  charity  institutions, 
but  with  pleasant  apartments  and  appliances,  con- 
versation-rooms, refreshment-rooms,  and  smoking- 
rooms  where  all  would  be  welcome  and  at  home, 
without  the  dangerous  allurements  of  the  saloon 
and  grogshops.  It  is  feasible  and  practical,  and,  as 
was  stated  by  Dr  Rylance,  who  was  familiar  with 
the  work  in  London,  has  rescued  many  from  the 
ginshops.     Christian  employers  and  philanthropists 

16 


122  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

could  in  no  way  better  counteract  the  seditious 
measures  of  agitators  and  demagogues,  who  are 
embittering  the  minds  of  the  workingmen,  than  by 
multiplying  among  them  these  healthful  and  attrac- 
tive resorts,  as  expressions  of  real  sympathy  between 
these  two  classes  rather  than  the  antagonism  which 
is  claimed  to  exist. 


XXVI. 

TBJVBMBJVT-HO  Zrs:ES. 

A  TENEMENT-HOUSE,  as  defined  by  the  law  of 
the  state,  includes  "  every  house,  building,  or  por- 
tion thereof,  which  is  rented,  leased,  let,  or  hired 
out  to  be  occupied,  or  is  occupied  as  the  house  or 
residence  of  more  than  three  families  living  inde- 
pendently of  each  other,  and  doing  their  cooking 
upon  the  premises,  or  by  more  than  two  families 
upon  a  floor,  so  living  and  cooking,  but  having  a 
common  right  to  the  halls,  stairways,  yards,  water- 
closets,  or  privies  or  some  of  them." 

This  is  a  description  of  a  tenement-house  of 
minimum  size,  and  gives  no  adequate  conception 
of  the  great  mass  of  the  tenement-houses  of  New 
York.  In  general  they  are  old  structures  which 
were  built  for  other  purposes,  partitioned  off  within 


TENEMENT-HO  USES.  1 23 

SO  as  to  give  each  family  two  rooms,  a  living-room 
ten  by  twelve  feet,  and  a  bedroom  six  by  four  feet, 
while  no  regard  is  paid  to  ventilation  or  domestic 
conveniences.  Twenty,  thirty,  forty,  to  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  such  apartments  are  constructed,  and 
in  each  a  family  of  from  three  to  five  persons  is 
crowded.  Dangerous  as  is  such  overcrowding  in 
individual  houses  when  exposed  to  the  full  play  of 
the  wind,  the  danger  is  increased  one  hundred- 
fold when  such  dwellings  are  as  closely  packed  to- 
gether in  the  blocks  as  are  the  people  in  their 
apartments.  Rear  tenement-houses  aggravate. the 
evil  beyond  measure.  They  are  built  upon  the 
rear  of  the  yard,  close  to  the  rear  tenement  of  the 
opposite  lot,  leaving  a  small,  cold,  and  damp  space 
between  the  front  and  rear  houses,  not  inappropriate- 
ly called  the  "  well-hole."  Not  only  are  fresh  air  and 
sunlight  thus  effectually  excluded  from  the  living 
and  sleeping  apartm.ents  of  most  of  the  inmates, 
but  the  buildings  become  cold  and  damp,  and  in 
time  are  saturated  with  the  poisonous  and  filthy 
excreta  of  the  inmates.  While  the  wood  and  other 
materials  of  such  structures  undergo  the  process  of 
dry-rot,  the  wretched  tenants  waste  and  die  from  a 
disease  expressively  termed  "  tenement-house  rot. 
The  debasing  effects  of  such  houses  has  never 


724  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

been  overdrawn.  Perhaps  the  most  vivid  picture 
of  the  moral  and  physical  degradation  of  this  class 
of  people  was  sketched  by  N.  P.  Willis  immediate- 
ly after  the  riots  of  1863,  who  was  an  eyewitness 
to  what  he  so  truthfully  describes.     He  says  : 

"  The  high,  brick  blocks  and  closely-packed 
houses  in  this  neighborhood  seemed  to  be  literally 
hives  of  sickness  and  vice.  Curiosity  to  look  on  at 
the  fire  raging  so  near  them  brought  every  inhabi- 
tant to  the  porch  or  window,  or  assembled  them  in 
ragged  and  dirty  groups  on  the  sidewalks  in  front. 
Probably  not  a  creature  who  could  move  was  left 
in-doors  at  that  hour.  And  it  is  wonderful  to  see 
and  difficult  to  believe  that  so  much  misery  and 
disease  and  wretchedness  can  be  huddled  together 
and  hidden  by  high  walls,  unvisited  and  unthought 
of,  so  near  our  own  abodes.  The  lewd,  but  pale 
and  sickly  young  women,  scarce  decent  in  their 
ragged  attire,  were  impudent,  and  scattered  every- 
where in  the  crowd.  But  what  numbers  of  these 
poorer  classes  are  deformed,  what  numbers  are 
made  hideous  by  self-neglect  and  infirmity,  and 
what  numbers  are  paralytics,  drunkards,  imbecile, 
or  idiotic,  forlorn  in  their  poverty-stricken  aban- 
donmemt  for  this  world  !  Alas,  human  faces  look 
so  hideous  with  hope  and  vanity  all  gone !     And 


TENEMENT-HO  USES.  \  2  5 

female  form  and  features  are  made  so  frightful  by 
sin,  squalor,  and  debasement!  To  walk  the  streets 
as  we  walked  them,  for  those  hours  of  conflagration 
and  riot,  was  like  a  fearful  witnessing  of  the  day  of 
judgment,  with  every  wicked  thing  revealed,  every 
hidden  horror  and  abomination  laid  bare  before 
hell's  expectant  fire." 

The  degree  of  overcrowding  in  our  present  ten- 
ement-house districts  exceeds  that  of  any  of  the  large 
cities  of  the  civilized  world.  The  following  compar- 
ative table  exhibits  the  population  to  the  square 
acre  of  the  tenement-house  classes,  or  the  poor  of 
New  York  and  London,  according  to  the  census  of 
1870: 

NEW   YORK.  LONDON. 

Ward  II 328  Strand 307 

Ward  13 311  St.  Luke's 259 

Ward  14 - 275  East  London — 266 

Ward  17 2S9  Holborn 229 

The  effect  of  this  excessive  crowding  in  badly- 
constructed  dwellings  upon  the  death-rate,  is  ex- 
hibited in  the  fact  that  this  half  of  the  population 
of  New  York  yields  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  the 
total  annual  sickness  and  mortality.  Sickness  and 
death  are,  however,  but  a  fraction  of  the  sum  total 
of  damage  which  overcrowding  and  defective  house 
accommodations  do  to    the  poor.     They  are  com- 


126  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

pelled  to  live  in  such  familiar  contact,  such  daily 
and  nightly  exposure  of  sexes,  almost  bestial,  and 
such  utter  disregard  of  the  common  decencies  of 
rational  beings,  that  vice  and  the  grossest  immo- 
rality pervade  the  very  atmosphere  of  their  homes. 

Examples  illustrating  the  importance  of  recon- 
structing tenement-houses  are  numerous.  A  house 
in  East  Seventeenth  street,  having  a  capacity 
for  ten  families,  had  fallen  into  a  condition  of  ex- 
treme dilapidation  and  filth.  It  was  long  occupied 
by  the  poorest  and  most  depraved  classes,  when,  in 
addition  to  other  diseases,  typhus  fever  began  to 
prevail  among  the  inmates,  and  in  the  course  of 
six  months  twenty  persons  had  this  disease.  It 
was  then  vacated  and  thoroughly  repaired  ;  the 
privies  and  drains  were  placed  in  good  order ;  the 
walls  were  scraped  and  replastered  ;  the  woodwork 
was  renewed  ;  through  and  through  ventilation  in 
every  room  was  secured ;  and  the  whole  was  neatly 
painted.  During  the  five  succeeding  years  scarce- 
ly a  case  of  sickness  occurred  in  that  house. 

The  Old  Brewery  was  formerly  occupied  by  the 
lowest  class  of  people  living  about  the  Five  Points. 
It  was  in  an  extreme  degree  of  dilapidation,  and 
saturated  with  filth  of  every  description.  Every 
form  of  contagious  disease  here  found  a   natural 


TENEMENT-HOUSES-  127 

home  and  diseases  directly  traceable  to  local 
causes  prevailed  throughout  the  year.  The  death- 
rate  of  this  community  was  about  fifty-five  per 
thousand,  and  the  sickness-rate  was  nearly  equal 
to  the  total  population.  This  building  was  taken 
possession  of  by  the  Methodist  Society,  and  con- 
verted into  a  mission-house.  The  interior  was 
entirely  remodelled,  additions  were  made,  and  two 
stories  of  the  old  building  were  converted  into  liv- 
ing-rooms for  families,  each  family  having  one 
living-room  and  one  or  two  bedrooms,  according  to 
their  necessities,  with  adequate  ventilation.  The 
capacity  of  these  two  stories  was  for  twenty  fami- 
lies. The  families  which  occupy  this  portion  of 
the  reconstructed  Old  Brewery  are  of  the  same 
grade  as  those  which  formerly  occupied  this  build- 
ing. They  are  the  most  destitute  and  abandoned 
class  of  that  district.  The  Mission  gives  them 
apartments  free  of  rent,  provided  they  conform 
strictly  to  the  rules  of  the  institution,  and  support 
themselves.  These  rules  require  that  no  liquors 
shall  be  drank  by  the  inmates,  nor  brought  into  the 
house;  perfect  cleanliness  of  their  persons,  apart- 
ments, and  halls,  shall  be  preserved;  they  shall 
retire  and  rise  at  a  given  hour,  etc.  The  results 
are  surprising.     There  is  not  more  than  one  death 


128  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

annually  among  these  twenty  families,  and  that 
from  chronic  diseases  not  traceable  to  the  house, 
and  but  rarely  is  there  a  case  of  sickness. 

The  most  immediately  practicable  measures  of 
relief  to  overcrowding  and  its  evils  are  of  four  kinds, 
namely:  i.  Improvement  and  reconstruction  of  ex- 
isting tenement-houses.  2.  The  building  of  model 
tenement-houses.  3,  Providing  cheap  railroad  tran- 
sit. 4.  The  conversion  of  warehouses  and  other 
unused  buildings  into  tenement-houses. 
— ♦ — 
IMPROVEMENT  IN  EXISTING  TENEMENT-HOUSES. 

The  facts  which  have  been  given  concerning 
the  tenement-houses  of  this  city  will,  it  is  hoped, 
awaken  the  attention  of  thoughtful  men  and  raise 
inquiry  as  to  means  and  measures  of  reform. 

Plans  have  been  projected  at  various  times  look- 
ing to  improved  dwellings  for  the  poor,  and  some 
experiments  have  been  made — as  that  of  the 
" Workingmen's  Home"  in  Elizabeth  street,  near 
Canal  street,  and  at  other  places,  and  building  as- 
sociations have  done  something  in  establishing 
homes  for  mechanics  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city. 
While  large-hearted  philanthropists  are  combining 
with  capitalists  to  devise  and  carry  out  grand 
schemes  of  improved  dwellings  for  the  poor,  it  may 


TENEMEXT-HO  USES.  1 29 

more  readily  meet  the  means  and  wishes  of  those 
who  cannot  enlist  in  any  great  undertaking  to  be 
informed  of  a  wise  and  practicable  plan  that  requires 
very  little  money.  As  for  instance  a  good  mission- 
ary woman,  laboring  among  the  poor  at  the  Five 
Points  and  feeling  deeply  the  evil  influences  sur- 
rounding those  who  are  trying  to  lead  a  virtuous 
life,  took  a  tenement-house,  on  her  own  responsi- 
bility, and  put  it  in  good  order,  and  then  introduced 
into  it  tenants  of  her  own  selection,  who  would  be 
willing  to  conform  to  the  ordinary  rules  of  cleanli- 
ness and  good  behavior.  It  has  been  found  that 
order  and  comfort  and  thrift  are  the  result,  and  a 
visit  to  the  house  will  be  sufficient  to  convince  any 
one  of  the  practicability  of  this  undertaking.  In 
view  of  what  has  thus  been  demonstrated,  it  would 
seem  to  be  entirely  feasible  to  institute  some  very 
practical  reforms  in  the  tenement-houses  as  they 
are,  and  I  respectfully  submit  if  this  is  not  worthy 
the  attention  of  your  readers.  At  the  same  time 
I  would  most  respectfully  and  earnestly  urge  upon 
capitalists  and  others  the  necessity  of  larger  and 
more  comprehensive  measures  of  permanent  relief. 
If  any  will  inquire  further  of  the  good  work  in  prog- 
ress at  the  Five  Points,  let  them  correspond  with 
the  City  Missionary,  155  Worth  street. 

Uusi  cl  \Vo;k.  Xt 


130  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 


XXVII. 

OU'R  DAJSTGB^ 

At  the  Forty-seventh  Anniversary  of  the  So- 
ciety, the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Hall,  spoke  of  the  dangers 
to  which  society  is  exposed. 

Dr.  Hall  said  that  he  was  to  speak  of  the  dan- 
ger to  the  community,  from  that  point  of  view  which 
Christian  citizens  might  be  supposed  to  take.  He 
contemplated  moral  and  spiritual  danger ;  but  that 
peril  is  so  intimately  connected  with  others  as  to 
call  for  attention,  and  some  solicitude,  from  every 
citizen,  whether  influenced  by  Christian  or  only  by 
patriotic  feeling,  whether  actuated  by  public  spirit 
or  only  by  intelligent  regard  to  personal  interests. 
There  is  danger  from  the  growth  of  a  large  godless 
population  outside  the  churches,  uninfluenced  by 
them,  without  the  restraints  and  motives  of  religion. 
It  is  warrantable  to  say,  "  outside  the  churches,"  for 
by  common  consent  the  overwhelming  proportion 
of  crime  is  outside  the  churches — outside  the  Prot- 
estant churches.  It  is  not  claimed  that  all  inside 
the  churches  are  genuine  and  immaculate,  nor  all 
outside  bad;   but  it  is  claimed   that  the   outside 


OUR  DANGER.  131 

classes  furnish  the  criminals,  as  a  whole.  There 
are  prisons  in  the  land,  he  would  venture  to  say, 
that  had  been  long  and  fully  occupied,  that  rarely 
had  a  professing  Christian  in  them,  in  the  technical 
Protestant  sense  of  that  word.  Let  this  outside 
class  grow  up,  and  what  must  the  effect  be?  The 
general  tone  of  moral  feeling  must  be  lowered. 
The  amount  of  temptation  to  the  untainted  must 
continually  increase.  There  are  many  kinds  of 
vice  that  eat  themselves  out,  and  must  be  constant- 
ly recruited  from  the  innocent.  The  human  birds 
and  beasts  of  prey  do  not  thrive  on  one  another, 
but  on  the  outside  community.  These  corrupt 
classes  constitute  the  ready  tools  of  all  schemers, 
demagogues,  and  enemies  of  the  country.  The 
suffrage  gives  them  power;  lack  of  principle  makes 
them  venal  and  unscrupulous  in  the  use  of  means  ; 
and  they  can  render,  if  only  numerous  enough  and 
organized,  the  finest  theoretic  institutions  nugatory 
for  all  the  ends  of  freedom,  security,  and  prosperity. 
Among  them,  institutions  of  vice  and  all  mischiev- 
ous agencies  thrive  ;  and  the  rich  men  who  said 
of  them,  "  Am  I  my  brother's  keeper  T  will  awaken 
to  their  existence  and  their  awful  force,  when  they 
find  their  sons  and  their  daughters  drawn  into  the 
vortex  of  their  iniquity,  and  ruined. 


132  GOSPEL   WORK  /A  NEW  YORK. 

There  is  danger  to  the  Church — danger  of  her 
demoralization— by  her  coming  to  accept  this  state 
of  things  as  an  inevitable  necessity  of  large  cities. 
There  is  danger  of  our  gliding  into  the  infidel 
position,  that  there  is  heathenism  which  the  truth 
cannot  reach ;  that  there  is  darkness  so  dense  that 
the  light  cannot  penetrate  it ;  that  there  are  prob- 
lems too  hard  for  Christian  wisdom ;  that  the 
Gospel  which  conquered  old-world  heathenism,  is 
unequal  to  the  conflict  with  its  modern  represen- 
tatives. 

The  human  mind  easily  becomes  accustomed  to 
evil ;  ceases  to  be  shocked  by  it ;  is  no  longer  hor- 
rified ;  learns  to  say,  "  Of  course,  there  is  a  fearful 
amount  of  vice  and  sin  ;"  and  to  say  it  in  an  airy, 
jaunty  way,  as  we  might  comment  upon  fogs  off 
Newfoundland,  or  stormy  weather  about  January. 
So  our  hearts  get  deadened  to  all  the  dreadful 
results  involved,  in  time  and  in  eternity,  and  we 
seem  to  act  as  if  the  men  and  women  who  are  not 
fit  to  live  with  us,  not  fit  for  freedom,  not  fit  for 
any  place  but  prisons  and  penitentiaries,  will  be 
somehow  quite  fit  for  that  holy  and  eternal  home 
into  which  nothing  entereth  that  defileth,  or  work- 
eth  abominations,  or  maketh  a  lie ! 

Now,  whose  business  is  this .-'     It  is  the  busi- 


OUR  DANGER.  133 

ness  of  all  American  citizens.  These  great  cities 
influence  the  destinies  of  a  country  because  mind 
sharpens  mind,  concert  and  organization  are  here 
easy,  and  men  can  move  in  imposing  masses.  The 
ballot-box  can  be  used  or  abused,  and  physical 
force  can  be  easily  employed  to  intimidate  the  fee- 
ble and  overbear  the  hesitating. 

All  property  owners  in  this  city  have  an  inter- 
est in  this.  I  am  aware,  said  the  speaker,  that 
even  for  evil  purposes  houses  can  bring  in  for  a 
while  a  high  income  ;  but  it  is  only  for  a  while. 
There  is  a  retributive  law  at  work  here,  and  the 
owners  who  are  conveniently  blind  to  the  uses  to 
which  their  property  is  put  and  by  which  they  reap 
the  profits,  become  losers  eventually  through  the 
bad  odor  into  which  neighborhoods  fall.  I  know 
the  man  who  was  invited  as  pastor  to  a  church  in 
this  city,  who  made  examination,  and  found  so 
many  disreputable  houses  around  as  to  seriously 
interfere  with  its  prosperity  and  his  decision — and 
that  was  not  below  Fourteenth  street. 

All  employers  have  an  interest  in  this  question, 
as  they  will  find  out  when  dealing  with  the  unprin- 
cipled and  the  violent,  instead  of  the  intelligent 
and  the  God-fearing  working-people.  Let  there 
grov/  up  a  large  class  of  the  kind  described,  and 


134  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  A'EJV  YORK. 

they  will  work  only  when  it  cannot  be  helped  : 
they  will  prescribe  their  own  terms  ;  they  will  not 
shrink  from  violence  in  enforcing  them  ;  they  will 
become  the  ready  instruments  of  the  designing  ; 
they  will  be  too  thoughtless  to  judge  of  the  state- 
ments made  to  them  ;  and  too  ignorant  of  the  prin- 
ciples that  underlie  social  life  to  hold  back  from 
any  demand  however  preposterous. 


XXVIII. 

In  various  ways  the  problem  of  city  evangeliza- 
tion is  proposed  to  be  solved,  as  witness  the  dis- 
cussions in  Christian  conventions  and  the  essays 
in  the  current  literature  of  the  day. 

One  will  have  it  that  the  true  way  to  reach  the 
people  with  the  gospel  is  to  make  all  the  seats  in 
all  the  churches  absolutely  free  to  all  comers.  An- 
other is  equally  certain  that  the  people  will  never 
come  to  the  churches  as  they  are,  free  or  not  free. 
Theatres  must  be  opened  or  gospel  halls  be  built, 
relieved  from  all  church  conventionalities  and  re- 
strictions. 

We  admire  the  enthusiasm  with  which  these 


TRIED  AND  PROVED.  135 

and  many  other  plans  are  advocated,  and  look  with 
interest  upon  the  various  experiments  which  are 
being  made  in  bringing  the  gospel  to  bear  upon 
the  hearts  of  multitudes  of  the  non-churchgoing 
people  in  our  great  cities. 

If  any  inquire  what  has  actually  been  done  in 
this  direction,  it  may  be  answered  that  for  fifty 
years  and  more  men  and  women  of  the  various 
Protestant  churches  have  been  quietly  and  unosten- 
tatiously and  patiently  going  into  the  poorer  quar- 
ters, through  the  streets  and  lanes  of  the  city,  tell- 
ing the  story  of  the  Saviour's  love,  cheering  the 
sad,  instructing  the  ignorant,  and  directing  the 
wandering  to  the  sinner's  friend.  As  they  have 
won  the  confidence  of  those  they  sought  to  benefit, 
they  have  led  the  young  into  Sabbath-schools  and 
Bible  classes  and  the  adults  into  churches,  wherever 
free  accommodations  were  av^ailable. 

In  some  parts  of  the  city  where  no  Protestant 
churches  are  found,  and  in  other  districts  where 
none  are  easy  of  access,  chapels  have  been  built, 
neat,  commodious,  and  church -like,  where  the 
Christian  minister  and  the  Christian  ordinances 
are  found,  and  where  the  poorest  may  come  with- 
out fear  of  intruding.  These  chapels  are  not  stig- 
matized as  missions — they  are    not  placarded  as 


136  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

such — they  are  not  known  as  such  among  the  peo- 
ple who  care  for  them.  The  people  speak  of  these 
humble  places  of  worship  as  churches  or  chapels 
with  as  much  interest  and  affection  as  any  of  their 
well-to-do  brethren  speak  of  their  own  fine  churches 
on  the  avenue.  The  families  in  the  chapels  we  are 
speaking  of  are  taught  to  contribute  of  their  means 
to  the  support  of  the  gospel,  and  do,  in  fact,  give  a 
fair  proportion  according  to  their  ability,  and  thus, 
equally  with  the  rich,  enjoy  the  privilege  of  paying 
for  what  they  get.  Thus  in  every  way  the  self-re- 
spect of  the  people  is  preserved,  and  they  learn  to 
help  themselves, 

And  not  only  so,  but  they  naturally  and  quickly 
learn  to  help  others,  and  take  up  the  work  of  evan- 
gelization themselves.  A  man,  brought  into  one  of 
these  chapels,  and  finding  a  pleasant  Sabbath  home, 
and  Christian  kindness  and  sympathy,  and  conge- 
nial society,  instantly  becomes  ^a  zealous  propagan- 
dist, and  sets  to  work  to  bring  his  neighbors  with 
him,  and  these  in  turn  again  will  bring  others.  Just 
as  at  the  first  opening  of  the  Christian  church,  when 
Andrew  went  after  Peter  and  Philip  went  after  Na- 
thanael. 

The  point  we  are  making  is  this  :  while  plans 
and  methods  of  city  evangelization  are  being  dis- 


TRIED  AND  PROVED.  137 

cussed,  and  experiments  of  one  sort  and  another 
are  being  tried,  here  is  one  way  that  is  economical, 
wise,  tried,  and  sure,  namely,  the  plan  of  city  mis- 
sions, according  to  which  Christian  men  and  wom- 
en, in  the  spirit  of  Christ  and  for  the  love  of  Christ, 
are  going  to  the  homes  of  the  people,  and  winning 
a  place  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  for  the  gospel 
they  carry  by  the  gospel  lives  they  are  living ;  and 
so  are  drawing  them  into  churches  and  building 
them  up  into  efficient  agents  for  carrying  on  the 
good  work. 

It  may  be  objected  that  this  plan  requires  time 
and  money,  and  that  it  is  too  slow  in  its  operation. 
And  we  need  only  reply  that  a  thorough,  perma- 
nent work  like  this  is  worth  all  it  costs,  and  is  not 
too  slow  to  be  sure. 

Whether  the  work  of  city  evangelization  is  as 
expensive  as  is  alleged,  may  be  judged  of  by  such 
figures  as  these :  the  New  York  City  Mission  has 
during  the  fifty  years  of  its  beneficent  activities, 
spent  $20,000  a  year  in  sustaining  its  missionary 
operations,  and  for  the  same  period  has  been  instru- 
mental in  the  hopeful  conversion  of  five  hundred 
souls  a  year. 

Of  course  the  majority  of  these  converts  have 
passed  away,  but  of  the  living  we  have  knowledge 

G'lSiiel  Woik.  18 


133  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

of  many  that  adorn  the  doctrine  of  God  their  Sav- 
iour, some  of  whom  are  occupying  positions  of  em- 
inent uscfuhiess  in  the  gospel  ministry  and  else- 
where. Though  the  formation  of  churches  is  com- 
paratively a  recent  development  of  city  evangeliza- 
tion, churches  of  400,  500,  600,  and  800  members 
are  found,  with  a  vigorous  spiritual  life,  exerting  a 
power  for  good  upon  all  around  them. 

In  two  instances,  as  the  result  of  the  continuous, 
persistent,  well-directed  efforts  of  intelligent  Chris- 
tian workers  for  fifteen  years,  the  work  has  outgrown 
its  first  accommodation,  and  new,  commodious,  and 
even  elegant  buildings,  have  been  erected,  the  bet- 
ter to  meet  the  increased  demands  of  the  enter- 
prise. And  as  an  indication  of  the  growth  of  con- 
fidence in  this  sort  of  work,  it  may  be  said  that  the 
first  mission  building  erected  cost  perhaps  ^25,000 
or  $30,000,  while  the  new  ones  cost  $80,000  t(j 
$100,000  each.  There  are  chapels  now,  of  ten 
years'  standing,  that  are  found  altogether  inade- 
quate to  accommodate  the  people  that  are  ready  to 
be  gathered  in. 

In  the  light  of  such  facts  as  these,  is  it  not  fair 
to  assume  that  this  proposition  has  been  demon- 
strated, namely,  that,  given  a  neat,  commodious 
chapel,  with  an  intelligent,  attractive  preacher,  and 


TESTIMONIES.  139 

warm-hearted,  efficient  helpers,  churches  and  Sab- 
bath-schools can  be  gathered,  and  powerful  agen- 
cies for  good  can  be  set  in  operation  in  any  desti- 
tute neighborhood  ?  To  any  one  who  has  the  means 
there  is  offered  this  grand  opportunity,  namely,  to 
give  one  thousand  dollars  a  year,  which,  on  the  av- 
erage, will  support  a  city  missionary,  who,  on  no 
less  a  testimony  than  that  of  Lord  Shaftesbury,  is 
equal,  as  a  moral  police  force,  to  one  hundred  po- 
licemen ;  and  after  he  is  done  using  his  money,  he 
may  leave  fifty  thousand  dollars,  which  will  plant  a 
chapel  that  will  be  a  well  of  salvation  to  untold  mul- 
titudes for  all  time  to  come. 


XXIX. 

TBS  TIMOJVIBS. 

At  the  recent  Anniversary  several  of  the  pas- 
tors of  the  City  Mission  chapels  presented  the  more 
prominent  features  of  their  work,  giving  altogether 
an  impressive  exhibition  of  the  practical  operations 
of  city  evangelization.  The  Rev,  George  Hatt,  of 
De  Witt  Chapel,  who  has  seen  forty  years  of  city 
missionary  service,  spoke  on  the  importance  and 
utility  of  tracts  in  Christian  labor,  and  related  many 


140  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

interesting  facts  in  illustration.  A  man  who  re- 
ceived a  tract  on  the  Battery  Park  came  to  the 
chapel  and  found  Christ  there  ;  then  brought  his 
wife,  who  also  found  Christ ;  and  for  years  that 
man  has  been  laboring  for  souls.  A  tract  entitled, 
"  The  Act  of  Faith,"  given  to  a  sick  man,  led  to 
his  conversion.  The  missionary  sent  a  tract  enti- 
tled, "What  art  Thou  .'"  to  a  young  man  in  whom 
he  felt  deeply  interested.  It  was  the  means  of  the 
young  man's  conviction,  and  so  of  his  conversion  ; 
and  that  convert  is  now  an  elder  in  a  New  Jersey 
church.  On  another  occasion  the  speaker  sent  a 
tract  to  a  young  man  anonymously.  The  recipient 
was  going  to  the  opera  on  the  night  he  received 
the  silent  messenger ;  but  it  was  God's  arrow  of 
conviction,  and  went  to  his  heart.  He  came  to 
Christ,  and  then  taking  the  tract  to  Sunday-school, 
read  it,  and  related  the  circumstances  connected 
with  his  reception  of  it.  Two  of  the  teachers  were 
moved  to  seek  the  Saviour  through  the  simple  re- 
cital. 

Rev.  James  Marshall,  of  Lebanon  Chapel,  said 
he  had  a  parish  of  140,000  souls,  and  believed, 
among  other  plans,  it  was  necessary  to  find  some 
means  of  getting  people  under  range  of  the  gospel 
artillery.     Lebanon  Chapel,  like  a  magnet  gather- 


TESTIMONIES.  141 

ing  the  steel-filings  out  of  surrounding  dust,  had 
gathered  many  precious  souls  out  of  the  mass  of 
sin  and  impurity,  but  there  were  thousands  as  yet 
unreached. 

Rev.  John  Dooly,  of  the  Carmel  Chapel,  Bow- 
ery, said  the  Tenth  and  Fourteenth  wards,  in  which 
he  labored,  contained  68,000  persons,  including 
12,000  children.  They  had  nine  Protestant  church- 
es, twelve  Sabbath-schools,  and  1,000  drink-shops. 
Through  the  past  six  years  nine  hundred  persons 
had  professed  conversion  in  connection  with  the 
work.  The  speaker  could  tell  of  many  trophies. 
In  one  case  a  man  was  brought  to  the  prayer- 
meeting  by  a  former  comrade  in  crime — they  were 
both  burglars.  The  older  one  came  out  of  curios- 
ity, but  was  laid  under  conviction  of  sin  and  knelt 
in  prayer  for  pardon.  The  praying  groups  con- 
tained the  missionary  and  sayed  thief  on  one  side 
and  a  seeking  thief  on  the  other,  and  the  latter 
found  the  Saviour.  He  had  a  "jimmy"  and  skele- 
ton-keys in  his  sleeve,  intending  to  break  into  a 
house  that  night.  These  he  gave  to  the  mission- 
ary, and  they  were  now  in  the  Society's  office. 

Rev.  A.  F.  Schauffler,  of  Olivet  Chapel,  dwelt  on 
the  necessity  of  extended  effort  in  Sunday-school 
work  down   town,  as  only  by  taking  hold   of  the 


142  GOSPEL   WORK  LV  NEW  YORK. 

children  could  the  masses  be  reached.  Children 
needed  no  forcing ;  they  would  come  to  school 
gladly.  Indeed,  hundreds  of  them  had  been  turned 
away  for  want  of  room.  New  York  Christians 
must  send  their  best  workers  into  these  mission 
Sabbath-schools,  as  the  work  required  the  best  pos- 
sible ability.  A  dying  mother  told  her  boy  that 
the  Lord  Jesus  would  come  to  him  and  take  care 
of  him  when  she  died.  All  night  he  waited  at  her 
grave,  and  in  the  morning  a  gentleman  seeing  him, 
asked  and  heard  his  story,  then  told  him  the  Lord 
Jesus  had  sent  him.  "  You  have  been  a  long  while 
coming,"  the  little  fellow  replied  ;  and  the  poor, 
destitute,  down-town  children  might  well  say  to 
Christian  people,  "You  have  been  along  time  com- 
ing to  us  and  bringing  Jesus  with  you  to  our  hearts 
and  homes." 

The  Rev.  Charles  S.  Robinson,  D.  D.,  asserted 
that  we  did  not  understand  the  masses  ;  they  were 
human  like  ourselves,  and  we  could  do  them  good 
if  we  would  give  them  our  hearts  and  our  time.  A 
plank  was  shoved  to  a  drowning  man,  but  as  he 
touched  it  his  fingers  slipped  and  down  he  went. 
This  was  repeated  more  than  once,  when  with  an 
almost  dying  effort  he  called  out  to  his  would-be 
deliverers  to  give  him  the  wood-end  of  the  plank. 


TESTIMONIES.  143 

They  found  out  that  the  plank  was  covered  with 
ice  at  one  end,  and  so  the  poor  fellow's  hands  had 
slipped  off  every  time  he  tried  to  grasp  it.  Get- 
ting hold  of  the  other  end,  he  was  rescued.  Let  us 
give  something  better  than  the  ice-end  of  the  plank 
to  distressed  humanity,  something  more  than  the 
cold  sympathy  of  formal  charity.  They  want  warm 
hearts  and  a  sympathy  that  they  feel  to  be  genu- 
ine, and  they  will  respond. 

The  following  resolutions  were  submitted  by 
Mr.  Roswell  C.  Smith,  and  seconded  by  Mr.  Thom- 
as F.  Jeremiah,  and  unanimously  and  heartily  adopt- 
ed by  the  meeting : 

"  I.  That  history  and  experience  have  fully  con- 
firmed the  wisdom  and  efficiency  of  the  principles 
and  the  plans  of  city  evangelization. 

"  2.  That  in  the  New  York  City  Mission  and 
Tract  Society  we  recognize  an  agency,  well-estab- 
lished and  intelligently  directed,  and  admirably 
adapted  to  the  work  of  carrying  the  gospel  to  the 
homes  and  the  hearts  of  the  people. 

"  3.  That  the  moral  and  social  condition  of  the 
multitudes  in  this  city  calls  for  the  most  vigorous 
and  persistent  prosecution  of  all  Christian  means 
and  measures  for  their  elevation  and  improve- 
ment. 


144  GOSPEL  WORK  IX  NEW  YORK. 

"4.  That  wc  heartily  welcome  the  earnest  co- 
operation of  the  ladies  in  city  mission  work,  believ- 
ing that  the  labors  of  the  missionary  women  under 
their  direction  among  the  wives  and  mothers  and 
children  of  the  poor  are  of  inestimable  importance 
in  the  renovation  of  society." 


AUXILIARY  MEASURES. 

Practical  and  thoughtful  philanthropists  are 
continually  turning  over  in  their  thoughts  the  ques- 
tions that  touch  the  moral  and  social  condition  of 
the  working  classes,  and  now  and  then  a  good  idea 
takes  a  practical  shape,  which  at  once  commends 
itself  to  the  judgment  of  every  good  citizen.  Among 
the  projects  now  on  foot  is  that  styled  the  "  Work- 
ingmen's  Club."  It  should  be  understood  that  this 
is  a  movement  not  designed  to  add  to  the  charities 
of  New  York,  but  to  furnish  workingmen  with 
healthy,  moral,  Christian  forms  of  entertainment 
and  instruction,  and  places  of  resort  where  they 
may  be  free  from  the  vicious  and  degrading  influ- 
ences of  the  drinking  saloons.  It  is  supposed  that 
the  workingmen  themselves  will  be  ready  to  sustain 
these  clubs  when  they  have  been  established  by 
their   friends.      The   Rev.   Dr.    Rylance,  who   has 


A  UXILIA R  Y  MEASURES.  1 45 

personal  knowledge  of  similar  clubs  in  London, 
Rev.  Dr.  John  Cotton  Smith,  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  C. 
Potter,  and  others,  have  given  their  endorsement  of 
the  plan,  and  members  of  the  Executive  Committee 
of  the  City  Mission  are  looking  after  the  develop- 
ment of  the  same,  and  we  trust  it  will  not  be  long 
before  a  good  beginning  will  be  made. 

Another  very  practical,  common-sense  underta- 
king is  that  of  taking  a  tenement-house,  and  after  a 
thorough  cleaning,  putting  into  it  tenants  who  will 
be  willing  to  conform  to  the  ordinary  rules  of  clean- 
liness, sobriety,  and  good  behavior.  A  laborious 
missionary,  visiting  daily  among  the  poor  at  the 
Five  Points,  feeling  deeply  the  evil  influences  sur- 
rounding those  who  are  trying  to  lead  a  virtuous 
life,  took  a  tenement-house  on  her  own  responsibil- 
ity, and  with  broom  and  brush,  and  whitewash  and 
paint,  thoroughly  renovated  the  place,  and  then 
introduced  tenants  who  would  promise  to  keep 
their  rooms  in  order,  close  the  doors  at  reasonable 
hours,  aud  shut  out  intoxicating  drinks  ;  and  the 
experiment  proves  that  order  and  comfort  and  thrift 
are  the  result,  to  the  great  advantage  of  both  land- 
lord and  tenant.  It  would  seem  that  this  compara- 
tively inexpensive  reform  might  be  set  on  foot  all 
over  the  city,  among  all  the  tenement-houses,  if 

Qi'spel  Work.  ]  'J 


146  GOSPEL  WORK  IX  NEW  YORK. 

only  some  good,  energetic  man  or  woman  would 
take  hold  of  the  idea  and  urge  it  forward. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  problems  is,  What 
shall  be  done  for  the  strong,  willing  men  who  arc 
out  of  work,  and  who,  to  keep  from  starvation, 
must  be  aided  by  charity  ?  A  suggestion  has  been 
made  that  a  farm  be  purchased  convenient  to  the 
city,  to  which  may  be  sent  young  men  of  good  char- 
acter, who  are  temporarily  destitute,  requiring  them 
while  there  to  labor  eight  hours  per  day,  provide 
each  with  working  clothes  while  on  the  farm,  clean 
and  mend  their  own  clothing  during  their  stay,  and 
return  the  same  to  them  when  they  leave.  Organ- 
ize a  class  for  special  training  in  the  details  of  agri- 
culture, and  thereby  increase  the  number  of  practi- 
cal farmers.  A  plan  like  this,  carried  out  with  skill 
and  tact,  would  give  a  man  a  chance  to  earn  his 
meat  and  drink,  and  to  gain  such  physical  strength 
that  if  a  call  came  for  a  strong  man  he  would  be 
able  to  respond.  He  remains  on  the  farm  until  he 
hears  from  his  friends,  from  an  employer  who  is 
ready  to  give  him  work,  or  until  some  other  place  is 
found  for  him. 

The  Gospel  Temperance  movement,  another 
project  of  present  interest,  is  spreading  among 
workingmen  with  a  good  deal  of  encouragement. 


A  UXILIA  R  Y  ME  A  SURES.  1 47 

Meetings  are  held  at  various  points  around  the  city, 
and  hundreds  of  men  are  signing  the  temperance 
pledge.  If  any  would  look  into  Carmel  Chapel,  134 
Bowery,  on  Monday  evening,  Calvary  Chapel,  153 
Worth  street,  on  Tuesday  evening,  De  Witt  Chapel, 
135  Greenwich  street,  on  Wednesday  evening,  they 
would  be  able  to  see  for  themselves  the  character  of 
these  services  and  the  interest  felt  in  them. 

Christian  men,  employers,  and  others,  could  not 
do  a  wiser  thing  than  to  give  their  hearty  and  gen- 
erous support  to  these  and  other  like  enterprises, 
by  which  a  real  and  practical  sympathy  for  the 
working  classes  may  be  shown  in  the  most  effective 
way.  Correspondence  is  invited  from  those  who 
have  the  means  and  the  disposition  to  aid  either  or 
any  of  these  projects,  and  further  information  of 
plans  and  methods  will  be  freely  given  to  those 
who  may  be  interested. 


148  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

XXX. 
WOJitAJV'S  WCRi:  IJy  CITT  MISSIOJVS. 


ORGANIZATION   OF  THE   FEMALE   BRANCH. 
OFFICERS  AND    MANAGERS. 


OFFICERS. 

Mrs.  Z.  S.  Ely,  First  Directress,  26  West  Twen- 
ty-sixth street. 

Mrs.  Horace  Holden,  Second  Directress,  15 
West  Twelfth  street. 

Mrs.  John  L.  Mason,  Treasurer,  Brooklyn. 

Miss  F.  L.  Baker,  Assistant  Treasurer,  163 
West  Eleventh  street. 

Mrs.  F.  A.  Conkling,  Secretary,  27  East  Tenth 
street. 

Mrs.  A.  R.  Brown,  Superintendent,  50  Bible 
House. 

MANAGERS. 
SOUTH  REFORMED  CHURCH. 

Mrs.  J.  A.  Bennett,  3  East  Thirty-third  street. 
Miss  Louisa  Weed,  55  East  Twenty-first  street. 


WOMAN'S  IVORK  IN  CITY  MISSIONS.     149 
MADISON  SQUARE  CHURCH. 

Mrs.  William  A.  Hallock,  132  West  Thirteenth 
street. 

Mrs.  Z.  S.  Ely,  26  West  Twenty-sixth  street. 
Mrs.  J.  C.  Ely,  6  East  Thirtieth  street. 

FIFTH  AVENUE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

Mrs.  Loring  Andrews,  139  Fifth  avenue. 
Mrs.  B.  Brown,  117  East  Fourteenth  street. 
Mrs.  M.  K.  Jesup,  197  Madison  avenue. 
Miss  S.  J.  Lee,  161  West  Thirty-fourth  street. 
Mrs.  Wm.  Libbey,  47  Park  avenue. 
Mrs.  C.  P.  Britton,  12  East  Fifty-fourth  street. 
Mrs.  E.  S.  Jaffray,  615  Fifth  avenue. 

BRICK  CHURCH. 

Mrs.  Horace  Holden,  15  West  Twelfth  street. 
Miss  Sophia  Ely,  1 17  East  Thirty-seventh  street. 
Miss  W' hitlock,  460  West  Twenty-third  street. 

THIRTY-FOURTH  STREET  REFORMED  CHURCH. 

Mrs.  Henry  Camerden,  Jr.,  358  West  Thirty- 
first  street. 

COLLEGIATE  REFORMED  CHURCH,  FIFTH  AVENUE, 
COR.  TWENTY-NINTH  STREET. 

Mrs.  J.  P.  White,  224  Madison  avenue. 


150  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

MEMORIAL  CHURCH,  MADISON  AVENUE  AND  FIFTY- 
THIRD  STREET. 

Mrs.  R.  M.  Field,  1 39  East  Forty-fifth  street. 
Miss  G.  B.  Henry,  73  East  Fifty-fourth  street. 

UNIVERSITY  PLACE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

Mrs.  Charles  A.  Davison,  8  West  Forty-eighth 
street. 

Mrs.  F.  A.  Burrall,  28  West  Eleventh  street. 
Miss  Helen  Turnbull,  5  West  Sixteenth  street. 

FIRST    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH,   FIFTH    AVENUE,   COR. 
ELEVENTH  STREET. 

Mrs.  James   McLanahan,    33    West  Twentieth 
street. 

BROADWAY  TABERNACLE. 

Mrs.  Joseph  E.  Case,  19  West  Fiftieth  street. 
Mrs.  Clark  Bell,  30  West  Fifty-first  street. 
Miss  L.  G.  Satterlee,  221  West  Forty-second  st. 
Miss  M.  S.  Bugbee,  45  West  Thirty-fifth  street. 


COLLEGIATE  REFORMED  CHURCH,  FIFTH  AVENUE, 
COR.  OF  FORTY-EIGHTH  STREET. 

Mrs.  S.  H.  Mead,  674  Madison  avenue. 


WOMAN'S  WORK  IN  CITY  MISSIONS,     ijl 

FOURTH      PRESBYTERIAN      CHURCH,      WEST      THIRTY- 
FOURTH  STREET. 

Mrs.  James  Stuart,  27  East  Thirty-seventh  st. 
Mrs.  F.  Blume,  146  West  Fifteenth  street. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT. 

Mrs.  Wm.  E.  Dodge,  225  Madison  avenue. 
Miss  Emma  Sutherland,  336  Lexington  avenue. 
Miss  Mary  Crosby,  150  Lexington  avenue. 

CHURCH  OF  ENGLEWOOD,  NEW  JERSEY. 

Miss  Olivia  Hoadley,  Englewood,  N.  J. 

Miss  Mary  N.  Wright,  45  West  Thirty-fifth  st. 

LUTHERAN     CHURCH    OF    THE    HOLY    TRINITY,    WEST 
TWENTY-FIRST  STREET. 

Mrs.  Louis   S.  J.  Brewster,  28  West  Fifty-sev- 
enth street. 

EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 

Mrs.  B.  Brown,  117  East  Fourteenth  street. 
Mrs.  M.  K.  Jesup,  197  Madison  avenue. 
Mrs.  H.  Holden,  15  West  Twelfth  street. 
Mrs.  Wm.  A.  Hallock,  132  West  Thirteenth  st. 
Miss  S.  Lee,  161  West  Thirty-fourth  street. 

MISSIONARIES. 

1.  Mrs.  Lefler,  65  Orchard  street. 

2.  Mrs.  Ward,  70  Columbia  street. 


152  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

3.  Mrs.  Rogers,  194  Prince  street. 

4.  Miss  Vantine  /^og  West  Nineteenth  street. 

5.  Mrs.  Van  Morsten,  107  First  avenue. 

6.  Mrs.  Wisner,  63  Second  street. 

7.  Miss  McDonald,  50  Bible  House. 

8.  Miss  Eighmey,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

9.  Mrs.  Miller,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

10.  Miss  Monroe,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

11.  Miss  Smyth,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

12.  Miss  Dye,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

13.  Miss  March,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

14.  Miss  Root,  50  Bible  House. 

15.  Mrs.  Miles,  155  Worth  street. 

16.  Miss  Dow,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

17.  Miss  Gumbart,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

18.  Miss  Miller,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

19.  Miss  Post,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

20.  Mrs.  Barnum,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

21.  Mrs.  Sloat,  55  East  Ninth  street. 


STATEMENT   OF  THE   WORK   OF    MISSIONARY 
WOxMEN. 

FiFTv-FivE  years  ago  this  Society  began  its 
work  of  sending  the  Gospel's  invitation  to  the  igno- 
rant and  depraved  of  New  York  city. 


IV0J?K  OF  MISSIONARY  WOMEN.  153 

The  names  of  all  those  who,  on  that  March  morn- 
ing in  1822,  met  in  Mrs.  Bethune's  parlor  to  plan 
its  organization,  are  now  graven  in  marble.  "  They 
rest  from  their  labors,"  and  we  have  entered  into 
them. 

The  increased  area  of  the  city  since  that  time, 
and  the  change  in  the  character  of  its  inhabitants, 
made  necessary  the  employment  of  paid  instead  of 
volunteer  workers,  but  has  not  diminished  the  power 
or  the  importance  of  a  Christian  woman's  influence  ; 
and  the  results  of  these  many  years  show  plainly 
that  no  agency  exists  better  calculated  to  reach 
and  elevate  those  whose  lines  have  fallen  outside 
the  influence  of  church  and  pastor. 

AIMS   AND    METHODS. 

It  would  seem  quite  unnecessary,  after  so  many 
years,  to  define  the  aims  of  this  Society  ;  yet  hardly 
a  week  passes  in  which  the  question  does  not  come 
in  some  form,  "  What  do  your  visitors  do  ?" 

Many  seem  to  regard  our  work  synonymous 
with  that  of  the  Society  for  Improving  the  Condi- 
tion of  the  Poor.  We  do  not  so  consider  it.  Though 
there  are  cases  where  the  body's  claims  must  ho.  first 
attended  to,  these  are  not  nearly  as  frequently  met 
as  we  once  supposed  ;  and  experience  confirms  more 
Gos;.uiw.>.k.  20   ■ 


1 54  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

and  more  strongly  our  faith  in  the  truth,  "Seek  first 
the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness,  and 
these  things  shall  be  added." 

Some  time  since  a  poor  woman  in  a  neighboring 
village  hearing  that  a  lady  to  whom  she  had  looked 
for  assistance  was  about  to  remove,  despairingly 
exclaimed,  "  What  shall  we  do  ?  We  will  have  no 
one  now  to  depend  on  but  the  Lord."  We  have 
met  many  who  have  seen  one  prop  after  another 
removed,  till  feeling  that  none  was  left  but  God, 
have  learned  there  was  none  like  him. 

Sin  being  the  cause  of  all  our  woes,  our  chief 
aim  is  to  lead  the  people  to  see  and  realize  this, 
and  then  to  urge  the  remedy.  This  is  no  routine 
work.  When  well  done  it  calls  into  exercise  all  of 
the  powers  and  ingenuity  of  the  most  capable. 

During  the  last  year  we  have  labored  much  to 
improve  the  quality  of  our  work,  by  the  study  of 
God's  Word ;  by  greater  efforts  for  thoroughness  ; 
by  meetings  for  conference  and  comparing  experi- 
ences in  the  work  ;  and  prayer  for  God's  blessing. 
While  this  manner  of  working  may  not  tend  to  the 
increase  of  numbers  in  statistics,  we  believe  the 
record  above  is  more  sure  to  be  "  well  done." 


WORK  OF  M/SSIOA'A  R  J '  IV OATEN.  1 5  5 

HOUSE    TO    HOUSE    VISITATION. 

To  the  influence  of  our  devoted  band  of  workers 
in  the  homes  of  the  poor,  we  look  for  our  greatest 
success.  There  we  touch  the  inner  life,  and  can 
suit  the  message  to  individual  souls.  One  who  has 
only  heard  described  life  in  a  tenement-house,  knows 
little  of  the  great  obstacles  in  the  way  of  Christian 
living  among  the  very  poor.  The  impure  air  of  a 
crowded  room  is  quite  as  detrimental  to  spiritual  as 
to  animal  life.  How  can  children,  who  spend  their 
lives  either  on  the  sidewalk  or  crowded  into  one 
little  room,  to  which  their  father  comes  home  night- 
ly too  much  intoxicated  to  know  what  he  says  or 
does,  grow  up  with  any  sense  of  propriety,  or  any 
purity. 

We  are  looking  forward,  with  earnest  hope  of 
some  relief,  to  the  time  when  rapid  transit  will  be- 
come an  accomplished  fact ;  and  watch  with  great 
interest  the  growth  of  public  opinion,  in  apprecia- 
tion of  the  necessity  that  something  should  be  done 
to  improve  the  homes  of  the  lower  classes.  We 
believe  that  many  are  convinced,  and  the  question 
now  is  not,  "  Is  there  need  that  anything  be  done  .^" 
but  "  What  r  and  "  How .?"  We  do  not  ask  for 
"  model "  homes,  only  that  some  already  built  be 


IS6  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

improved  in  ventilation,  and  placed  in  competent 
hands  to  order  and  control.  Nothing  would  assist 
more  in  the  moral  elevation  of  the  people  than  some 
practical  move  in  this  direction. 

The  lack  of  employment  during  the  last  year 
has  led  many  into  temptations  which  have  been 
barriers  in  our  way.  Many  have  "  regarded  every 
day  alike"  when  they  could  get  work,  justifying 
their  disregard  of  holy  time,  saying,  "  Our  first  duty 
is  to  get  bread  for  our  children."  Notwithstanding 
these  and  other  drawbacks,  our  work  has  steadily 
progressed. 

Men  who,  for  seven,  fifteen,  and  twenty  years, 
have  neglected  the  house  of  God,  have  been  brought 
there,  and  we  have  been  permitted  to  see  the  trans- 
forming power  of  religion  in  many  families  where 
formerly  there  was  no  thought  beyond  the  want  or 
pleasure  of  the  present  hour. 

These  changes  are  not  wrought  by  a  solitary 
call  or  admonition,  but  each  has  cost  many  a  weary 
journey  to  the  "  top  floor,"  many  a  word  of  warning 
and  earnest  prayer,  many  a  season  of  discourage- 
ment ;  but  when,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  the  reward 
has  come,  the  labor  is  accounted  as  nothing. 


WORK  OF  MISSIONARY  WOMEN.  157 

OUR  WORKERS. 

Twenty-five  different  missionaries  have  been  in 
the  employ  of  our  Society  during  the  year. 

After  two  or  three  months'  trial,  some  have 
retired  on  account  of  insufficient  strength.  One, 
who  had  been  with  us  some  time,  was  called  to  a 
specific  work  in  which  she  felt  peculiar  interest. 
One  who  received  a  severe  injury  from  a  baseball 
thrown  in  the  street,  is  at  present  laid  aside.  An- 
other has  temporarily  retired  to  acquire  greater  fit- 
ness. And  we  close  the  year  with  the  same  num- 
ber we  began  it,  seventeen. 

MISSIONARY  NURSE. 

A  new  power  for  good  has  been  introduced  this 
year,  the  Missionary  Nurse.  Prepared  in  the 
Training  School,  she  is  thoroughly  competent  to 
do  all  that  is  necessary  in  cases  of  extreme  illness, 
and  has  been  an  unspeakable  comfort  to  many  who 
had  no  one  to  minister  to  them. 

We  hope  before  long  others  will  join  us  in  this 
capacity,  for  a  wide  field  is  open  for  usefulness  in 
this  way. 

mothers'  meetings. 

Our  weekly  prayer-meetings  for  mothers,  held 
in   the   afternoon,   have   numbered    in    attendance 


158  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  KEW  YORK. 

from  fifteen  to  twenty  in  the  smallest,  to  two  hun- 
dred. 

The  hour  spent  at  these  meetings  is  often  the 
only  one  during  the  week  when  a  weary  woman 
can  break  off  from  her  daily  duties  to  listen  to 
God's  message  of  love  to  her.  The  baby  in  her 
arms  is  no  hindrance  to  her  enjoyment.  The  quiet 
alone  would  be  very  welcome  to  her,  but  what 
power  of  healing  for  her  spirit  in  the  "Word"  dis- 
tinctly read  and  carefully  explained.  On  Thanks- 
giving day,  one  of  our  German  workers  invited  the 
women  of  her  meeting  to  bring  their  husbands 
with  them,  as  many  would  have  a  holiday.  They 
came  through  the  pouring  rain,  many  without  um- 
brellas, till  over  two  hundred  and  seventy  were 
gathered  to  give  thanks  to  God — for  what } 

Some  were  very  thinly  clad,  and  many  of  them 
had  often  during  the  year  suffered  hunger.  What 
had  they  to  be  thankful  for } 

As  the  leader  showed  those  fathers  and  mothers 
what  cause  for  gratitude  they  had,  in  their  own 
lives  spared  to  their  children,  and  the  children  to 
them ;  that  the  word  of  God  in  its  blessed  promises 
had  so  quickened  and  established  their  faith ;  and 
more  than  all,  for  the  riches  many  of  them  had 
ft)un(l  in  Christ  Jesus;  their  hearty  appreciation  of 


WORK  OF  MISSIONARY  WOMEN.  isj 

her  words  was  written  on  their  faces,  softening  the 
deep  care-lines. 

As  she  closed,  all  who  could  cordially  respond 
to  the  sentiments  expressed  were  asked  to  stand. 
They  rose  as  one,  and  joined  in  singing,  "Oh,  for 
a  thousand  tongues  to  sing." 

Our  English  Mothers'  Meetings  are  smaller, 
but  not  less  prized. 

THE  OPEN  DOOR, 

Formerly  located  in  Sullivan  street,  now  at  194 
Prince  street,  still  invites  the  straying  ones  to 
enter  and  learn  of  Him  who  said,  "  Go  and  sin  no 
more." 

During  the  summer  Mrs.  R who  has  it  in 

charge,  paid  the  penalty  of  overwork  in  a  severe 
illness.  She  has  hardly  recovered  her  usual 
strength,  but  has  resumed  the  women's  meetings 
at  the  Tombs  and  in  her  house  with  very  satisfac- 
tory results. 

During  the  month  of  November  ninety-five 
were  brought  into  the  house  services,  and  the 
record  of  the  meetings  in  the  Tombs,  the  last 
seven  weeks,  gives  an  aggregate  attendance  of 
three  hundred. 

Weekly  visits  have  been  continued  at  the  House 


i6o  GOSPEL  WORK  IX  NEW  YORK. 

of  Detention,  though  the  number  of  women  found 
there  has  been  smaller  than  last  year,  sometimes 
not  more  than  two  or  three. 

HELPING  HANDS. 

To  the  question  how  to  carry  on  the  temporal 
and  spiritual  work  together,  the  Helping  Hand 
gives  a  very  satisfactory  solution. 

The  "  relief  "  received  there  is  earned  while  the 
work  of  elevating  and  instructing  goes  on.  These 
Associations  are  almost  entirely  under  the  care  of 
ladies  from  different  churches,  who  volunteer  their 
services.  The  largest,  in  Olivet  Chapel,  has  over 
forty  ladies  engaged  in  it,  and  gives  assistance  to 
three  hundred  poor  women  every  winter.  Our  in- 
valuable Englewood  helpers  are  still  unwavering  in 
their  devotion  to  the  one  in  Lebanon  Chapel,  assu- 
ming its  entire  care  and  support. 

Last  summer  these  ladies  extended  to  six  of  the 
poor  women  of  their  charge  an  invitation  to  spend 
a  week  in  their  beautiful  village.  When  the  week 
liad  passed,  six  others  took  their  places.  This  was 
continued  for  six  weeks,  the  ladies  each  in  turn 
furnishing  the  necessary  supplies. 

The  memory  of  that  week  of  wonderful  expe- 
rience will  be  "a  joy  for  ever"  to  those  whose  lives 
.'JO  seldom  lead  in  pleasant  paths. 


TVOJ?/^  OF  MISSIONARY  H'OMEjV.  i6i 

The  youngest  of  these  sewing  meetings,  begun 
last  winter  in  Calvary  Chapel  at  the  Five  Points, 
showed  so  marked  an  influence  on  the  women 
attending  it,  that  it  has  been  opened  again  this 
winter,  though  we  know  not  from  where  the 
means  are  to  come  for  its  support.  Nothing  but 
lack  of  funds  prevents  our  extending  the  benefits 
of  this  branch  of  our  work  to  many  more  of  those 
so  urgent  in  their  request  for  admission. 

All  of  the  money  devoted  to  the  Helping  Hands 
is  given  for  that  purpose,  and  not  taken  from  the 
regular  contributions  to  the  Society  for  the  support 
of  missionaries.  The  unflagging  interest  of  the 
ladies  engaged,  some  having  continued  eight  years, 
shows  their  approbation  of  it ;  and  the  woman  who 
said  at  the  last  week's  meeting,  "  I  am  watching  all 
of  the  week  for  Tuesday  to  come,  it  is  the  bright 
spot  in  my  life,"  gave  expression  to  the  feelings  of 
many. 

OUR  HOME, 

Which  completed  its  first  year  in  May,  has  fulfilled 
our  hopes  in  the  comfort  it  affords  the  Mission- 
aries, and  in  the  opportunity  it  gives  for  prepara- 
tion of  mind  and  heart  for  the  important  work 
we  are  doing.  With  nearly  all  other  organizations 
we  are  feeling  the  hard  times.      During  the  last 


1 62  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

month  the  family  has  numbered  sixteen,  and  when 
our  ranks  are  again  filled  the  Home  will  be  filled 
also. 

Early  in  the  year  the  oldest  member  of  the 
Society,  Mrs.  Thomas  C.  Doremus,  fell  asleep.  The- 
bent  form  so  constantly  in  our  meetings  is  seen 
by  us  no  more.  Her  cheering  words  and  rich  ex- 
perience are  sadly  missed,  but  we  know  that  when 
the  Lord  comes  with  his  saints  we  shall  see  her 
again. 

To  all  who  have  so  cordially  assisted  us  we 
give  hearty  thanks.  Hospitals  have  freely  opened 
their  doors  to  our  sick,  those  who  care  for  "  Wid- 
ows," "  Orphans,"  "  Half  Orphans,"  the  "  Poor,"  the 
"Aged,"  the  "Friendless,"  and  the  "Inebriate," 
have  all  kindly  received  those  we  have  taken  to 
them,  and  their  cooperation  is  remembered  grate- 
fully. 

Yet  we  have  often  met  those  for  whom  no 
place  could  be  found,  and  we  were  obliged  to  let 
them  slip  back  into  their  old  haunts  and  habits. 
Satan  is  still  "  wiser  than  the  children  of  light." 
His  followers  have  located  a  saloon  in  a  place  con- 
venient to  the  Blackwell's  Island  boat,  where  those 
who  for  longer  or  shorter  time  have  been  eating 
the  bread  of   repentance   in  the   Penitentiary,  or 


WORK  OF  MISSIONARY  WOMEN.  163 

recovering  from  the  effects  of  an  evil  course  in 
Ciiarity  Hospital,  may  prepare  themselves  for  an- 
other term  there.  But  Christian  Charity  lags  be- 
hind, and  does  not  lay  a  kind  hand  on  the  weak 
sister,  piloting  her  by  the  slippery  places.  Why  ? 
Because  among  all  our  Homes  there  is  no  place 
where  such  may  be  taken.  If  real  Christian  love 
united  with  business  capacity  would  but  espouse 
the  interests  of  this  class,  and  open  a  Shelter  for 
them,  connecting  with  it  a  Laundry,  we  believe  it 
might  be  made  self-supporting,  and  prevent  many 
a  suicide.  It  should  be  a  thoroughly  Christian 
Home,  to  do  the  work  for  women  which  the  one 
recently  established  seems  to  be  accomplishing 
among  men. 

There  is  another  class  we  feel  might  be  easily 
reached  were  special  effort  made  among  them,  and 
a  place  provided  where  they  could  earn  a  living. 
We  refer  to  the  colored  girls,  hundreds  of  whom 
are  walking  in  the  broadest  part  of  the  broad  way 
that  leads  to  death.  Impulsive  and  vacillating  by 
nature,  they  are  easily  led  into  good  as  well  as 
evil,  and  removed  from  their  surroundings  till 
strength  in  well-doing  had  been  acquired,  many 
might  be  rescued. 

We  would  express  our  earnest  thanks  to  those 


l64  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

who  have  been  our  counsellors,  as  well  as  to  our 
supporters  and  helpers ;  to  the  young  friends  in 
Sabbath-school  classes  out  of  town  who  have  re- 
membered our  sick  and  suffering  ones  ;  to  the 
Flower  Mission  which  has  so  often  filled  our  hands 
with  bouquets  for  the  Mothers'  Meetings  and  sick- 
rooms ;  to  Dr.  Burrall  who  has  by  night  or  day 
rendered  cheerfully  such  valuable  service,  to  Drs. 
Parker  and  Stimson,  and  Duberceau,  for  assistance 
in  special  cases. 

Above  all,  we  render  thanks  to  Him  who  has 
given  us  such  abounding  token  of  his  approbation, 
in  answered  prayers,  in  sustaining  grace,  and  the 
blessing  of  his  presence.  In  his  name  our  work  is 
done,  and  to  him  be  the  praise  and  glory  of  its  suc- 
cess, now  and  evermore. 


ORG  A  NIZA  TION.  1 65 


XXXI. 


O'R  GAJVIZA^  TJOJV. 
CONSTITUTION. 

CHARTER. 
Passed  February  19,  1866,  a?id  atnetided  Febrtiary  24,  1870. 

Act.  An  Act  of  Incorporation. 

Title.  An  Act  to  Incorporate  THE  NEW 
CITY  MISSION  AND  TRACT  SOCIETY. 

The  people  of  the  state  of  New  York,  repre- 
sented in  Senate  and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  fol- 
lows : 

Section  i.  George  W.  Abbe,  Richard  Amer- 
man,  Constant  A.  Andrews,  Benjamin  13.  Atter- 
bury,  Josiah  W.  Baker,  George  W.  Beale,  Nathan 
Bishop,  William  T.  Booth,  Benjamin  F.  Butler, 
William  A.  Cauldwell,  Charles  C.  Colgate,  William 
W.  Cornell,  Hiram  A.  Crane,  Stephen  Cutter,  Hen- 
ry Day,  William  E.  Dodge,  Jr.,  Thomas  C.  Dore- 
mus,  Zebulon  S.  Ely,  Edward  P.  Griffin,  Robert  G. 
Hatfield,  James  C.  Holden,  Lewis  Hallock,  M.  D., 
David  Irwin,  Thomas  Jeremiah,  Morris  K.  Jesup, 
Caleb  B.  Knevals,  Leonard  Hazeltine,  Jr.,  Joseph 
B.  Lockwood,  Benjamin  Lord,  John  R.  Ludlow,  A. 


i66  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

H.  Turner,  M.  D.,  Almon  Merwin,  Walter  T.  Mil- 
ler, Charles  C.  North,  John  P2.  Parsons,  William 
Phelps,  Alfred  A.  Post,  Archibald  Russell,  Thomas 
S.  Shepherd,  Thomas  Storm,  William  Johnston, 
Thomas  M.  Turlay,  William  Walker,  A.  R.  Wet- 
more,  Ralph  Wells,  Frederick  W.  Whittemore,  Ja- 
cob F.  Wyckoff,  Milton  St.  John,  John  S.  McLean, 
Horace  Winans,  and  their  associates,  are  hereby 
constituted  a  body  corporate  by  the  name  of  the 
New  York  City  Mission  and  Tract  Society,  and  by 
that  name  shall  have  the  powers  which  by  the  third 
title  of  the  eighteenth  chapter  of  the  first  part  of 
the  Revised  Statutes  are  declared  to  belong  to  cor- 
porations, and  shall  be  capable  of  taking  by  pur- 
chase or  devise,  holding  or  conveying  any  estate, 
real  or  personal,  for  the  use  and  purposes  of  said 
corporation,  subject  to  any  provisions  of  law  in  re- 
lation to  devises  and  bequests  by  wills.  Such  real 
estate  shall  not  exceed  the  yearly  value  of  fifty 
thousand  dollars. 

Sec.  2.  The  objects  of  this  corporation  are  to 
promote  morality  and  religion  among  the  poor  and 
destitute  of  the  city  of  New  York,  by  the  employ- 
ment of  missionaries,  by  the  diffusion  of  evangeli- 
cal reading  and  the  sacred  Scriptures,  by  the  estab- 
lishment of  Sabbath-schools,  mission  stations  and 


ORGANIZA  TION.  i  d-] 

chapels,  for  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  for 
other  ordinances  of  Divine  worship. 

Sec.  3.  The  business  affairs  and  estate  of  said 
corporation  shall  be  managed  by  a  Board  of  fifty- 
Directors,  who  shall  hold  their  office  for  one  year, 
or  until  others  are  elected  in  their  place.  The  first 
Board  of  Directors  shall  consist  of  the  fifty  persons 
named  in  the  first  section  of  this  Act,  and  they 
shall  hold  their  office  until  the  Wednesday  follow- 
ing the  second  Monday  in  December,  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  sixty-six,  and  until  their  succes- 
sors are  chosen.  After  the  year  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-nine,  the  Board  of  Directors 
shall  be  composed  and  chosen  from  persons  in  com- 
munion with  different  religious  denominations.  All 
vacancies  in  the  Board  of  Directors  shall  be  filled 
as  the  By-Laws  direct. 

Sec.  4.  There  shall  be  an  annual  election  for 
Directors  on  the  Wednesday  following  the  second 
Monday  in  December  of  each  year,  at  which  elec- 
tion each  member  of  said  corporation  shall  be  enti- 
tled to  cast  one  vote.  There  shall  be  such  notice 
and  inspection  of  election  as  the  By-Laws  direct. 
Any  person  who,  within  one  year,  has  contributed 
ten  dollars  to  the  funds  of  the  corporation,  or  who 
at  any  one  time  may  have  contributed  twenty  dol- 


1 68  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

lars,  shall  be  entitled  to  vote  at  such  annual  elec- 
tion for  Directors. 

Sec.  5.  At  all  meetings  of  the  Board  of  Direc- 
tors, seven  members  shall  constitute  a  quorum  for 
the  transaction  of  business. 

Sec.  6.  The  said  corporation  may  make  such 
By-Laws  and  rules  for  the  regulation  of  its  busi- 
ness, the  management  of  its  affairs,  the  choice, 
powers,  and  duties  of  its  officers  and  agents,  as  are 
not  inconsistent  with  its  charter  and  the  laws  of 
the  state. 

This  Act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 

BY-LAWS. 

Article  i.  The  Board  of  Directors  shall  annu- 
ally elect  a  President  and  a  Vice-President.  The 
President,  or  in  his  absence,  the  Vice-President, 
shall  preside  at  the  meetings  of  the  Society  and  of 
the  Board  of  Directors.  If  both  of  said  officers  be 
absent,  a  Chairman  pro  tanpore  shall  be  chosen. 
The  Board  may  elect  such  persons  as  they  think 
proper  Honorary  members  of  the  Society. 

Art.  2.  The  Board  of  Directors  shall  appoint  a 
Corresponding  Secretary,  a  Recording  Secretary,  a 
Treasurer,  and  a  Superintendent  of  Missions,  who 
shall  hold  office  during  the  pleasure  of  the  Board. 


BY-LAWS.  169 

Art.  3.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Correspond- 
ing Secretary,  under  the  direction  of  the  Board,  to 
conduct  the  correspondence  of  the  Society  and  of 
the  Board,  to  attend  to  the  business  of  the  office, 
the  publication  of  statistics  and  documents,  and  the 
preparation  of  reports. 

Art.  4.  The  Recording  Secretary  shall  give  no- 
tice of  the  meetings  of  the  Board  and  of  the  Socie- 
ty, and  shall  record  the  Minutes  of  these  meetings. 

Art.  5.  The  Treasurer  shall  take  charge  of  the 
funds,  and  report  the  state  of  the  treasury  at  each 
regular  meeting  of  the  Board,  and  pay  all  bills  of 
expenses  incurred  by  the  Society,  when  they  shall 
have  been  examined  and  passed  upon  by  the  Exec- 
utive Committee. 

Art.  6.  The  Superintendent  of  Missions,  under 
the  direction  of  the  Board,  shall  have  a  general  over- 
sight of  the  missionary  work  of  the  Society,  carry 
out  their  instructions  for  the  regulation  of  the  mis- 
sionaries, the  establishment  of  mission  stations,  the 
appointment  of  preaching  services  ;  and  shall  pre- 
sent these  objects  to  the  churches. 

Art.  7.  The  Board  of  Directors  shall  hold  meet- 
ings quarterly  in  the  months  of  January,  April,  July, 
and  October  of  each  year.  They  shall  annually  ap- 
point the   Executive   Committee,  and  such  other 

Gosrei  Work.  22 


I70  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

committees  as  may  be  called  for  from  time  to 
time. 

Art.  8.  The  Executive  Committee  shall  consist 
of  eighteen  members,  including  the  Corresponding 
Secretary,  the  Treasurer,  and  the  Superintendent 
of  Missions,  who  shall  be  members  ex  officio,  five  of 
whom  shall  constitute  a  quorum. 

It  shall  be  their  duty  to  locate  the  missions,  to 
purchase,  build,  or  hire  such  premises  as  are  re- 
quired for  mission  stations,  and  to  make  all  neces- 
sary improvements  and  alterations  in  the  same  from 
time  to  time.  They  may  lease  such  part  of  any 
mission  station  as  is  not  needed  by  the  Society,  for 
purposes  not  inconsistent  with  the  designs  of  the 
mission,  and  they  may  sell  to  any  evangelical 
church  or  mission,  or  any  other  proper  party,  any 
station  owned  by  the  Society,  when  in  their  judg- 
ment it  is  for  the  best  interest  of  the  cause  to  do 
so.  They  shall  appoint  the  missionaries  required 
for  the  service  of  the  Society,  fix  their  salaries,  di- 
rect their  labors,  and  the  services  in  the  mission 
stations.  They  may  appoint  any  agents  whom,  they 
may  find  it  expedient  to  employ  in  the  business  of 
the  Society  ;  they  may  form  or  acknowledge  auxil- 
iary societies,  and  establish  the  terms  of  connection 
between  the  auxiliaries  and  the  Society ;  and  in 


BY-LAIVS.  171 

general  are  authorized  to  do  whatever  may  be  ne- 
cessary to  give  efBciency  to  the  work  assigned 
them. 

They  shall  have  power  to  fill  all  vacancies  in 
their  own  number.  They  shall  annually  choose 
out  of  their  own  number  the  following  Standing 
Committees :  a  Finance  Committee,  a  Building 
Committee,  and  a  Missionary  Committee,  and  they 
shall  also  choose  a  Visiting  Committee  for  each 
month. 

Any  member  of  the  Executive  Committee  ab- 
senting himself  without  leave  from  four  consecu- 
tive meetings  of  the  Committee,  shall  be  considered 
as  having  resigned  his  seat,  and  the  Committee 
shall  proceed  to  fill  the  vacancy. 

The  Executive  Committee  shall  make  reports  of 
their  proceedings  to  the  Board  of  Directors. 

Art.  9.  At  meetings  of  the  Board,  the  follow- 
ing shall  be  the  order  of  business  :  i.  Prayer ;  2. 
Minutes  ;  3.  Unfinished  Business  ;  4.  Reports  of 
Committees  ;  5.  Reports  of  Missionaries  ;  6.  Re- 
port of  Superintendent  of  Missions  ;  7.  Report  of 
Treasurer ;  8.  Report  of  Secretary ;  9.  Elections ; 
10.  New  Business. 

-Art.  10.  These  By-Laws  may  be  amended  at 
any  regular  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Directors,  on 


172  GOSPEL   WURK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

the  recommendation  of  the  Executive  Committee, 
by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  the  members  present. 
— ♦  — 

THE  CHAPELS. 

First  Ward,  De  Witt  Chapel,  No.  135  Greenwich 
street,  near  Cedar  street.  Rev.  George  Hatt,  pas- 
tor ;  Mr.  James  Farrow,  assistant.  The  Mission 
Sabbath-school  was  organized  in  1836,  and  the  Mis- 
sion service  was  commenced  in  1852,  and  establish- 
ed in  the  present  location  in  1873.  Sabbath  servi- 
ces 10:30  A.  M,  and  7:30  p.  M.  Sabbath-school  at 
9  A.  M.  and  2  p.  M.  Prayer-meetings  Tuesday  and 
Thursday  evenings.  Temperance  meeting,  Wednes- 
day evening. 

There  were  reported  last  year  155  preaching 
services,  with  an  attendance  in  the  aggregate  of 
7>379 ;  308  prayer-meetings,  with  an  attendance  in 
the  aggregate  of  5,154;  and  in  the  Sunday-school 
1 10  children  received  instruction  during  the  year. 

Sixth  Ward,  Calvary  Chapel,  No.  153  Worth 
street,  adjoining  House  of  Industry,  near  Centre 
street.  Temporarily  supplied  by  Mr.  W.  F,  Bar- 
nard. This  Chapel  first  opened  for  religious  servi- 
ces, Sabbath  evening,  February  13,  1870.  The 
church  in  Calvary  Chapel  was  organized  February, 
1 87 1.     Sabbath  services  10:30  a.  m.  and  7:30  p.  m. 


THE  CHAPELS.  173 

Temperance  meeting  Tuesday  evening.  Prayer- 
meeting  Thursday  evening. 

There  were  reported  last  year  104  preaching 
services,  with  an  attendance  in  the  aggregate  of 
9,417  persons ;  156  prayer-meetings,  with  an  attend- 
ance in  the  aggregate  of  7,809. 

Thirteenth  Ward,  Lebanon  Chapel,  No.  70  Co- 
lumbia street.     Rev.  James  Marshall,  pastor. 

The  Thirteenth  Ward  Mission  was  first  com- 
menced in  1854;  removed  to  its  present  location, 
1866.  The  church  was  organized  in  April,  1870. 
Sabbath  services  10:30  a.  m.  and  7:30  p.  m.  Sab- 
bath-school, 2  p.  M.  Weekly  meetings  Monday, 
Wednesday,  and  Friday  evenings. 

There  were  reported  last  year  58  preaching  ser- 
vices, with  an  attendance  in  the  aggregate  of  5,800 
persons  ;  180  prayer-meetings,  with  an  attendance 
in  the  aggregate  of  3,300  persons ;  and  in  the  Sab- 
bath-school 300  children  received  instruction. 

Fourteenth  Ward,  Carmel  Chapel,  No.  134  Bow- 
ery. Rev.  John  Dooly,  missionary  in  charge.  Sab- 
bath services  7:30  p.  m.  Prayer-meeting  Friday 
evening.  Daily  prayer-meeting,  12  noon.  Tem- 
perance meeting  Monday  evening. 

There  were  reported  last  year  50  preaching  ser- 
vices, with  an  attendance  in  the  aggregate  of  8,800 


174  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

persons  ;  390  prayer-meetings,  with  an  attendance 
in  the  aggregate  of  31,530. 

Seventeenth  Ward,  Olivet  Chapel,  No.  63  Sec- 
ond street,  near  Second  avenue.  Rev.  A.  F. 
Schauffler,  pastor. 

The  Chapel  was  first  opened  for  religious  ser- 
vices, Sabbath  evening,  December  8,  1867;  the 
Church  was  organized  April,  1870.  Sabbath  servi- 
ces 1 1  A.  M.  and  7:30  p.  M.  Sabbath-school  1 1  a.  m. 
and  2:30  p.  M.  Prayer-meetings  Tuesday  and  Fri- 
day evenings. 

There  were  reported  last  year  156  preaching 
services,  with  an  attendance  in  the  aggregate  of 
22,582  persons;  729  prayer-meetings,  with  an  at- 
tendance in  the  aggregate  of  28,254 ;  and  in  the 
Sabbath-school  825  children  received  instruction. 

The  growth  of  Olivet  Chapel  may  be  seen  in 
the  figures  following :  The  attendance  upon  the 
Sabbath  morning  service  for  several  years  has  been 
as  follows:  in  1874,  74;  in  1875,  92;  1876,  90; 
and  in  1877,  106.  The  attendance  Sabbath  even- 
ing shows  the  average  attendance  in  1874,  117; 
1875,  174;  1876,  204;  and  in  1877,  244.  The 
Tuesday  evening  prayer-meeting  for  the  same  years 
shows  50,  65,  80,  and  Zy.  The  Friday  evening 
prayer-meeting  shows  75,  91,  108  for  the  last  three 


THE  CHAPELS.  175 

years.  The  Sabbath-school  attendance  has  been 
448,  514,  533,  and  574  for  the  last  four  years,  the 
ratio  of  attendance  having  doubled  in  the  same  time. 

German  Missions.  Rev.  Conrad  Doench,  pas- 
tor. German  services,  Sabbath  at  10:30  a.  m.,  and 
Thursday  at  7:30  p.  m.,  No.  70  Columbia  street. 
Sabbath  at  3  p.  m..  and  Tuesday  at  7:30  p.  m.,  at 
No.  135  Greenwich  street.  Rev.  Philip  Jeblick, 
pastor.  German  services,  Sabbath  at  9:30  a.  m., 
and  Monday  at  7:30  p.  m.,  at  No.  63  Second  street. 

There  were  reported  last  year  231  preaching 
services,  with  an  attendance  in  the  aggregate  of 
17,893  persons;  282  prayer-meetings,  with  an  at- 
tendance in  the  aggregate  of  16,928  persons  ;  and 
in  the  German  Sabbath-school  200  children  received 
instruction  during  the  year. 

Helping  Hand  for  Men,  316  Water  street. 
Reading-room  open  daily ;  religious  services  every 
evening  at  7:30;  and  on  the  Sabbath  at  2:30  and 
7:30  p.  M. 

The  Churches. — In  three  of  the  chapels,  the 
Christian  ordinances  have  been  introduced,  and  the 
total  number  of  communicants  enrolled  in  all,  from 
the  beginning,  April,  1870,  is  1,347.  The  number 
received  last  year  is  147.  The  present  number  is 
803. 


176  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

THE  SERVICES. 

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Wd-i  criCL-i  Sd->^  COq.-"  t/)^^ 

§§3  §^^  §>^^  §.P^  g^J 

>^^m    >rf^>     "^!_,tii    >^.^>  ^-rn-r" 

<-S<;    xwSpo    ^wSro    •<<:;^r  ►<" 

c/j^fJK^     w°S2     «°??>     woJ?<  c/: 


503H     5W52     ?^U5n     2L3m     5 


< 

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ffi     .-  c       jr    cn  ►!<     ••  a:     ••  o-^    > 

p        Eg^     r!-        tils'        tn^-^^r 

-•         "      ^  5^  o  <      r    n         i      "  ^  =   M3 

^  °crq  ?    M  n J  :r^    ^  :«'    p    »3.  o  5-  3    o^  ^  S  I 

en  2^J'Ti'*'T3  r^"  ^!"  j" 

W  ^  O     ?  •        y  2-      C  rt-         P  C       D. 

^         w    s     o        S  g-"-  2"    e.g^5^  3     S-s::?  g 

Q^  •  o  ^  'i^    y  zT.   n  ••  c  'J    ^  t« 

oj  •-•  S^""  lii'T)"'  '-'rn) 

O  n?  °  •  ►ti  a. 


S  g;  S  •"      aq 


C ARM  EL  CHAPEL.  177 

CARMEL  CHAPEL,  134  BOWERY. 

The  City  Mission  is  making  systematic  efforts 
to  carry  the  gospel  to  all  jDcrsons,  without  respect 
to  country,  creed,  color,  sex,  or  age,  and  through  its 
various  instrumentalities  reaches  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  all  classes.  In  1872,  in  conjunction  with 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  a  building 
was  leased  in  the  Bowery,  near  Grand  street,  and 
fitted  up  in  a  neat  and  attractive  manner  as  a  chapel 
and  reading-room.  This  chapel  was  first  opened 
Sabbath  evening,  May  5,  1872,  with  a  sermon  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Hall.  In  September  following, 
the  Rev.  A.  F.  Schauffler  took  charge  of  the  work, 
and  continued  in  office  until  called  to  the  Olivet 
Chapel.  Lately  the  Rev.  D.  Stuart  Dodge  has  vol- 
untarily given  his  time  freely  to  the  general  over- 
sight of  the  work.  The  Rev.  John  Dooly,  the 
assistant  missionary,  may  daily  be  found  at  the 
chai^el. 

The  work  of  Carmel  Chapel  is  almost  exclusively 
among  men — men  who  have  come  to  the  city  in 
search  of  employment,  and  failing  in  this,  and  being 
without  means  or  friends,  are  compelled  to  accept 
assistance.  The  statistics  of  the  operations  direct- 
ly under  the  charge  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 

G  ,.;,.:  ^Vo.k.  li3 


I7S  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

Association  for  the  last  year,  will  indicate  the  use- 
fulness of  the  work : 

Total  number  Calls  made  and  received 9>430 

"  "         Letters  written  by  visitors 9,800 

"  "         Men  sent  to  hospital 59 

"  "         Visitors  to  Reading-room -  5,030 

"  "         Free  lodgings 8,941 

"  "         Different  men  lodged -- 1,230 

"  "         Free  baths 1,498 

"  "         Garments  given 266 

"  "         Meals  given 39,998 

"  "     sold 55,197 

"  "         Situations  furnished - 227 

"  "         Men  registered —      675 

The  religious  services  under  the  immediate  direc- 
tion of  Rev.  D.  Stuart  Dodge  are  attended  by  large 
numbers,  and  many  have  given  credible  evidence  of 
a  radical  change  in  heart  and  life.  The  general 
order  of  the  meetings  held  in  Carmel  Chapel  for  the 
week  is  as  follows  : 

Daily  noonday  Prayer-meeting  12  to  i  p.m. 

Sabbath. — Meeting  of  Special  Prayer,  4  p.  m.; 
Preaching  for  the  People,  7  :  30  p.  i\i. 

Monday. — Gospel  Temperance  Meeting,  7  :  30 
p.  M. 

Tuesday. — Inquiry  Meeting,  7  :  30  p.  m. 

Wednesday. — Young  Men's  Social  Prayer-meet- 
ing, 7  :  30  p.  M. 


CARMEL  CHAPEL.  I79 

Thursday. — Entertainments,  Readings,  etc., 
when  advertised. 

Friday. — Prayer-meeting,  7  :  30  p.  m. 

Family  Prayers  in  the  Library  every  evening, 
9:30. 

For  the  six  years  Carmel  Chapel  has  been  open, 
the  aggregate  attendance  has  been  as  follows  : 

Temperance  Meetings,  (Pledges  signed,  4,283) 61,608 

Inquiry  Meetings  -- 6,260 

Friday  evening  Prayer-meetings 23,904 

Sabbatli  evening  Preaching  service 38,834 

Noonday  Prayer-meetings 144, 114 

Grand  total -274.7  ^o 

The  grand  idea  of  Carmel  Chapel  is  the  preach- 
ing of  the  gospel,  and  the  Executive  Committee 
earnestly  invite  the  attention  of  the  friends  and 
subscribers  of  the  City  Missions  to  the  urgent 
necessity  of  sustaining  this  chapel,  where  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  and  other  religious  and 
moral  services  are  regularly  maintained,  and  where 
a  large  congregation  is  easily  gathered.  The  neces- 
sary expenses  for  rent,  missionary  services,  and 
incidentals  must  be  provided  for,  and  it  is  hoped 
that  the  evident  usefulness  of  this  work  will  en- 
courage the  wealthy  and  benevolent  to  furnish  the 
means  necessary  to  establish  and  endow  it,  and 
provide  for  the  erection  of  a  suitable  building,  com- 


i8o  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

modious  and  attractive,  which  shall  stand  on  the 
great  thoroughfare  as  a  permanent  institution  for 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls. 


OLIVET  CHAPEL,  NO.  63  SECOND  STREET, 

Seventeenth  Ward,  Olivet  Chapel,  No  63  Sec- 
ond street,  near  Second  avenue,  Rev,  A,  Schauffler, 
pastor. 

The  chapel  was  first  opened  for  religious  servi- 
ces, Sabbath  evening,  December  8,  1867;  the 
church  was  organized  April,  1870.  Sabbath  servi- 
ces, 1 1  A.  M.  and  7  :  30  p,  m.  Sabbath-school,  1 1 
A.  M.  and  2 1  p,  M.  Prayer-meetings  Tuesday  and 
Friday  evenings. 

There  were  reported  last  year  156  preaching 
services  with  an  attendance  in  the  aggregate  of 
22,582  persons  ;  729  prayer-meetings  with  an  at- 
tendance in  the  aggregate  of  28,254  ;  and  in  the 
Sabbath-school  825  children  received  instruction. 

The  growth  of  Olivet  chapel  may  be  seen  in 
the  figures  following :  The  attendance  upon  the 
Sabbath-morning  service,  for  several  years,  has 
been  as  follows  :  in  1874,  74  ;  in  1875,  9-  '•>  i"  ^^7^> 
90;  and  in  1877,  ^06,  The  attendance  Sabbath 
evening   shows    the    average  attendance  in   1874, 


OLIVET  CHAPEL.  i8i 

117;  1875,  174;  1876,  204;  and  in  1877,  244. 
The  Tuesday  evening  prayer-meeting  for  the  same 
years,  shows  50,  65,  80,  and  ^J.  The  Friday  even- 
ing prayer-meeting  shows  75,  91,  108,  for  the  last 
three  years.  The  Sabbath-school  attendance  has 
been  448,  514,  543,  and  574,  the  last  four  years,  the 
ratio  of  attendance  having  doubled  in  the  same  time. 
The  chapel  is  admirably  divided  into  rooms  of 
various  sizes,  all  of  which  may  be  thrown  open 
upon  occasion,  thereby  adapting  the  accommoda- 
tions to  larger  or  smaller  meetings,  and  to  the  vari- 
ous purposes  of  the  mission.  Let  us  see  how  the 
missionary  work  is  carried  on,  and  what  is  aimed 
at  in  the  different  means  and  agencies  employed. 
We  commence  with  the  Sabbath,  At  9I  a,  m, 
preaching  in  German ;  at  11  a,  m.  Bible-class 
exercises,  which  take  the  place  of  a  preaching 
service  and  of  the  morning  session  of  the  Sab- 
bath-school ;  at  2\  p,  M.  the  regular  session  of 
the  Sabbath-school  is  held  ;  at  4  p.  m,  a  Sabbath 
school  prayer-meeting ;  and  at  ']\  p,  m.  the  evening 
preaching  service  is  held,  which  closes  the  Sabbath. 
Monday  at  7^  p,  m.  the  German  people  meet  for 
prayer  and  conference.  Tuesday,  at  2  p.  m.  the 
Helping  Hand  Association  gather  the  poor  women 
together  to  make  up,  at  a  fair  compensation,  useful 


1 82  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

garments  for  themselves  and  their  families,  which 
are  afterwards  sold  to  them  at  cost.  The  Associa- 
tion also  provide  a  few  groceries,  which  are  retailed 
at  wholesale  prices.  While  the  women  are  at  work, 
familiar  talks  on  household  thrift  and  economy,  and 
domestic  management,  and  matters  of  sickness, 
health,  etc.,  are  entered  upon  by  the  pastor  and  other 
competent  persons.  At  7  J  p.  m.  the  regular  weekly 
prayer-meeting  is  held.  Wednesday,  at  2  p.  m.  the 
pastor  meets  with  his  assistants  and  colaborers  to 
look  over  the  work,  and  seek  by  prayer  and  confer- 
ence renewed  strength  and  courage ;  at  ']\  p.  m. 
the  Sabbath-school  teachers  meet  for  the  study  of 
the  lesson.  Thursday,  at  2  p.  m.  the  German 
Mothers'  meeting  is  held.  Friday,  at  2  p.  m.,  the 
English  Mothers'  meeting  is  held ;  at  7|  p.  m.  the 
young  people  meet  for  prayer  and  praise.  Satur- 
day, at  10^  A.  M.,  the  Children's  prayer-meeting 
and  sewing-school  are  held. 

In  Olivet  Chapel  there  is  a  church  organization, 
in  which  there  have  been  enrolled  628  members, 
and  a  Sabbath-school  of  children  and  youth  of  825 
members.  There  is  a  Missionary  Association,  a 
Young  People's  Association,  a  Mutual  Sewing  Re- 
lief Association,  a  Helping  Hand  Association,  and 
other  auxiliaries  for  gfood. 


HELPIXG  HAND  AT  OLIVET  CHAPEL.  1.^3 
THE  HELPING  HAND  AT  OLIVET  CHAPEL. 

Helping  women  to  help  themselves  is  the  best 
kind  of  help.  While  so  many  Christian  workers 
are  discussing  the  questions,  "  How  to  help  the 
poor  without  pauperizing  them,"  "  How  to  prevent 
imposition,"  and  "  How  to  reach  the  masses,"  a 
band  of  women  is  quietly  working  out  the  problem 
in  a  down-town  chapel. 

Every  Tuesday  afternoon  they  meet  for  three 
hours,  from  half-past  one.  Every  applicant  for  aid 
is  visited  and  her  case  thoroughly  investigated,  If 
worthy,  she  is  received,  placed  in  a  class,  given  a 
garment  on  which  to  sew,  and  a  card  prepared  for 
the  purpose,  on  which  the  account  of  her  earnings 
is  placed  each  week.  Twelve  cents  an  hour  is  the 
price  paid  for  labor  there.  Good  material  is  pro- 
vided, and  the  garments  must  be  well  made.  The 
women  are  permitted  to  order  the  garments  most 
needed  by  them  or  their  children,  and  if  they  wish 
can  take  half  their  pay  in  groceries. 

Neacly  three  hundred,  divided  into  classes  of 
eight,  have  been  employed  this  winter.  Three- 
fourths  of  these  are  widows — many  with  families, 
and  others,  too  old  to  work,  yet  unwilling  to  go  to 
the  almshouse,  while  soul  and  body  can  be  kept 
together  in  any  other  way. 


l84  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

And  while  these  prudent,  efficient,  and  success- 
ful efforts  are  made  to  supply  these  women  with 
work  and  wages,  they  are  also  furnished  with  the 
best  religious  instruction,  and  their  social  and 
moral  wants  met  with  kindness  and  care.  Any 
interested  in  this  work  will  be  welcome  at  Olivet 
Chapel,  6i  Second  street,  every  Tuesday  afternoon, 
and  a  few  ladies  who  speak  German  will  be  invalu- 
ble. 

Like  all  kindred  institutions,  this  feels  the 
pressure  of  the  times.  Though  the  applications 
are  multiplied,  the  means  have  not  increased  in 
proportion,  A  separate  fund  is  kept  for  the  relief 
of  special  cases,  and  any  donations  for  either  the 
general  work  or  the  "  Emergency  Fund,"  will  be 
gladly  received  and  faithfully  applied,  if  addressed 
to  Mrs,  M.  K.  Jesup,  197  Madison  avenue,  Mrs. 
David  S.  Egleston,  8  East  Thirty-fifth  street,  or 
Mrs.  A.  R.  Brown,  50  Bible  House. 

Helping  Hands  are  also,  carried  on,  in  connec- 
tion with  Lebanon  Chapel  and  Calvary  Chapel ;  that 
in  the  former  place  being  supported  and  managed 
by  ladies  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  Englewood, 
N.  J.,  Rev.  Henry  M.  Booth,  pastor. 


HONORARY  MEMBERS. 


1S5 


HONORARY  MEMBERS. 


Rev.  Thos.  E.  Vermilye,  D.  D.  Rev, 

Rev.  Wm.  Adams,  D.  D.  Rev, 

Rev.  Wm.  R.  Williams,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  Mancius  S.  Hutton,  D.  D.  Rev 

Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  Edward  D.  Smith,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  Edwin  F.  Hatfield,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  Sam'l  D.  Burchard,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  Thomas  Armitage,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  T.  W.  Chambers,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  Wm.  A.  Hallock,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  S.  I.  Prime,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  Henry  M.  Field,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  R.  D.  Hitchcock,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  Wm.  W.  Newell,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  George  L.  Prentiss,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  E.  P.  Rogers,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev,  W.  G.  T.  Shedd,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  T.  D.  Anderson,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  S.  D.  Alexander,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  Joseph  Holdich,  U.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  Howard  Crosby,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  Robert  R.  Booth,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  D.M.L.  Quackinbush,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  Enoch  Van  Aken.  Rev. 

Rev.  John  Cotton  Smith,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  Andrew  Stevenson,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  Thos.  S.  Hastings,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  C.  C.  Norton.  Rev. 

Rev.  E.  A.  Washburn,  D.  D.  Rev. 

Rev.  James  D.  Wilson.  Mr. 

Rev.  S.  H.  Tyng,  Jr.,  D.  D.  Mr. 

Rev.  Julius  W.  Geyer.  Mr. 

Rev.  David  Gregg.  Mr. 

Rev.  David  Terry.  Mr. 

Rev.  W.  M.  Pa.xton,  D.  D.  Mr. 

Rev.  Wm.  Ormiston,  D.  D.  Mr. 

Rev.  A.  A.  Reinke.  Mr. 

Gospel  Woik.  2i 


W.  T.  Sabine. 

John  Hall,  D.  D. 

G.  S.  Chambers. 
.  N.  W.  Conkling,  D.  D. 

A.  C.  Wedekind,  D.  D. 

J.  J.  Brouner. 

G.  H.  Mandeville,  D.  D. 

R.  H.  Newton. 

C.  S.  Robinson,  D.  D. 

Henry  M.  Booth. 

Wm.  M.  Taylor,  D.  D. 

Edward  L.  Clark. 

George  H.  Hepworth. 

M.  R.  Vincent,  D.  D. 

S.  M.  Hamilton. 

S.  B.  Rossi  ten 

Halsey  Moore. 

J.  S.  Ramsay. 

C.  A.  Stoddard,  D.  D. 

George  O.  Phelps. 

George  S.  Payson. 

W.  J.  Tucker,  D.  D. 

Erskine  N.  White,  D.  D. 

F.  H.  Marling. 

Joseph  R.  Kerr. 

Carlos  Martyn. 
,  Alfred  H.  Moment. 
,  Henry  T.  Hunter. 

L.  D.  Bevan. 
,  Arthur  Brooks. 
R.  L.  Stuart. 
Samuel  B.  Schieffelin. 
William  Walker. 
E.  S.  Jaffray. 
James  Lenox. 
William  E.  Dodge. 
Frederick  Marquand. 
William  Libbey. 


1 86 


GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 


OFFICERS. 

PRESIDENT. 

A.  R.  WETMORE. 

VICE-PRESIDENT  AND  TREASURER. 

MORRIS  K.  JESUP. 

CORRESPONDING  SECRETARY  AND  ASSISTANT  TREASURER. 

LEWIS  E.  JACKSON. 


DIRECTORS. 


George  W.  Abbe, 
Austin  Abbott. 
Benjamin  B.  Atterbury. 
Josiah  W.  Baker. 
George  W.  Beale. 
Nathan  Bishop. 
Riley  A.  Brick. 
James  H.  Briggs. 
Albert  N.  Brown. 
John  S.  Bussing. 
William  A.  Cauldwell. 
Charles  C.  Colgate. 
John  B.  Cornell. 
Hiram  A.  Crane. 
Stephen  Cutter. 
Henry  Day. 
William  E.  Dodge,  Jr. 
Charles  M.  Earle. 
David  S.  Egleston. 
Ambrose  K.  Ely. 
Zebulon  S.  Ely. 
Lewis  Hallock,  M.  D. 
A.  S.  Hatch. 
Robert  Hoe. 
James  C.  Holden. 


Samuel  Inslee,  Jr. 
David  Irwin. 
Joseph  C.  Jackson. 
Thomas  F.  Jeremiah. 
Morris  K.  Jesup. 
John  Taylor  Johnson. 
Joseph  F.  Joy. 
Caleb  B.  Knevals. 
Charles  Lanier. 
Joseph  B.  Lockwood. 
Benjamin  Lord. 
Gsorge  De  F.  Lord. 
John  R.  Ludlow. 
Walter  T.  Miller. 
John  E.  Parsons. 
Howard  Potter. 
Gamaliel  G.  Smith. 
James  T.  Smith. 
Roswell  C.  Smith. 
Thomas  Storm. 
Thomas  S.  Strong. 
John  II.  Washburn. 
A.  R.  Wetmore. 
Thomas  W.  Whittemore. 
Jacob  F.  Wyckoff. 


OFFICERS.  187 


EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 

Rev.  John  Hall,  D.  D.  Morris  K.  Jesup. 

Rev.  C.  S.  Robinson,  D.  D.  William  E.  Dodge,  Jr. 

Rev.  Wm.  M.  Taylor,  D.  D.  Howard  Potter. 

Rev.  Wm.  Ormiston,  U.  D.  A.  S.  Hatch. 

Rev.  Wm.  J.  Tucker,  D.  D.  Gamaliel  G.  Smith. 

Rev.  D.  Stuart  Dodge.  Walter  T.  Miller. 

A.  R.  Wetmore.  Ambrose  K.  Ely. 

Nathan  Bishop.  John  E.  Parsons. 

John  Taylor  Johnston.  Lewis  E.  Jackson. 

BUILDING  COMMITTEE. 

Morris  K.  Jesup.  Howard  Potter. 

John  Taylor  Johnston.  Ambrose  K.  Ely. 

Gamaliel  G.  Smith. 


MISSIONARY  COMMITTEE. 
Rev.  John  Hall,  D.  D.  Rev.  Wm.  Ormiston,  D.D. 

Rev.  C.  S.  Robinson,  D.  D.  Rev.  Wm.  J.  Tucker,  D.D. 

Rev.  Wm.  M.  Taylor,  D.  D.  A.  R.  Wetmore. 

FINANCE  COMMITTEE. 
A.  R.  Wetmore.  William  E.  Dodge,  Jr. 

Morris  K.  Jesup.  A.  S.  Hatch. 

Howard  Potter. 

AUDITORS. 

Walter  T.  Miller.  Ambrose  K.  Ely. 

The  Corresponding  Secretary  is  a  member  ex-officio  of  all  the 
standing  committees. 


l88  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

MISSIONARIES. 

1.  Mr.  Lewis  E.  Jackson,  Sec,  50  Bible  House. 

2.  Rev.  George  Hatt,  135  Greenwich  street. 

3.  Mr.  James  Farrow,  135  Greenwich  street. 

4.  Mr.  W.  F.  Barnard,  153  Worth  street. 

5.  Mr.  John  Anderson,  185  Spring  street. 

6.  Rev.  James  Marshall,  70  Columbia  street. 

7.  Mr.  G.  W.  Martin,  70  Columbia  street. 

8.  Rev.  John  Dooly,  134  Bowery. 

9.  Mr.  John  Ruston,  1 14  East  22d  street. 

10.  Rev.  A.  F.  Schauffler,  63  Second  street. 

11.  Mr.  Robert  T.  Listen,  63  Second  street. 

12.  Mr.  Eugene  Peck,  63  Second  street. 

13.  Rev.  Conrad  Doench,  132  Cannon  street. 

14.  Rev.  Philip  Jeblick,  143  First  avenue. 

15.  Mr.  G.  R.  Lederer,  303  West  29th  street. 

16.  Rev.  Marinus  Willett,  50  Bible  House. 

17.  Mr.  J.  F.  Patton,  2247  Second  avenue. 

18.  Mrs.  Lefler,  65  Orchard  street. 

19.  Mrs.  Ward,  70  Columbia  street. 

20.  Mrs.  Rogers,  194  Prince  street. 

21.  Miss  Vantine,  409  West  19th  street. 

22.  Mrs.  Van  Morsten,  107  First  avenue. 

23.  Mrs.  Wisner,  63  Second  street. 

24.  Miss  McDonald,  50  Bible  House. 


MISSION  A  HIES.  1 89 

25.  Miss  Eighmey,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

26.  Mrs.  Miller,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

27.  Miss  Monroe,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

28.  Miss  Smyth,  55  PLast  Ninth  street, 

29.  Miss  Dye,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

30.  Miss  March,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

31.  Miss  Root,  50  Bible  House. 

32.  Mrs.  Miles,  155  Worth  street, 

33.  Miss  Dow,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

34.  Miss  Gumbart,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

35.  Miss  Miller,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

36.  Miss  Post,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

37.  Mrs.  Barnum,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

38.  Mrs.  Sloat,  55  East  Ninth  street. 

39.  Mrs.  A.  R.  Brown,  Sup't  Female  Branch, 

50  Bible  House. 
The  missionary  women  in  the  foregoing  list  are 
appointed  and  supported  by  the  Female  Branch  of 
the  City  Mission,  a=nd  their  labors  are  directed  by 
the  Female  Superintendent  in  connection  with  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Female  Branch. 


PRESENT  STATUS  OF  THE  GOSPEL  WORK. 

This  Society  has  under  its  care  35  MISSION- 
ARIES, who  make  70,000  VISITS  every  year, 
carrying   help,    and    sympathy,  and    comfort,    and 


I90  GOSPEL  WORK  IX  XEW  YORK. 

blessing  to  20,000  FAMILIES  who  are  outside  of 
all  parochial  care. 

The  CITY  MISSION  gives  the  preaching  of 
the  gospel  to  250,000  PERSONS  during  the  year. 
Recently  it  has  commenced  the  administration  of 
the  Christian  ordinances  in  the  Mission  Chapels, 
so  that  now  the  people  have  pastoral  care  and  in- 
struction, and  Christian  fellowship  and  aid,  and 
church  government  and  discipline,  as  in  regularly 
incorporated  churches. 

In  THREE  CHAPELS  Christian  communities 
have  been  organized  on  a  simple  union  basis,  the 
Apostles'  Creed  being  the  only  symbol  of  faith,  and 
more  than  1,347  members  in  all  have  been  enrolled. 

The  CITY  MISSION  gathers  the  children  into 
Sabbath-schools  wherever  accessible,  and  supports 
4  MISSION  SABBATH-SCHOOLS,  giving  in- 
struction and  care  to  2,000  children,  mostly  of  the 
very  destitute  and  needy  class. 

It  also  maintains  Sewing  Schools,  Helping 
Hand  Associations,  Employment  Societies,  Tem- 
perance Organizations,  Reading  Rooms,  Lodging 
Houses,  and  in  every  way  that  Christian  love  and 
ingenuity  can  devise,  is  seeking  to  carry  the  gospel 
to  the  poor  and  needy  who  are  not  reached  by  the 
churches. 


PRESENT  STATUS  OF  GOSPEL   WORK.    191 

TO  SUPPORT  THE  MISSIONARIES,  main- 
tain the  MISSION  CHAPELS,  and  carry  on  100 
DIFFERENT  SERVICES  every  week,  and  pro- 
vide the  TRUTH  FOR  DISTRIBUTION,  only 
$50,000  per  year  is  required.  Properly  and  efficient- 
ly to  reach  the  spiritual  destitutions  of  the  city, 
$100,000  or  $200,000  could  be  advantageously  used. 

And  the  disbursement  of  the  largest  amount 
named  would  not  involve  the  addition  of  a  single 
dollar  for  office  expenses  or  salaries.  The  ratio  of 
expense  is  only  2\  per  cent,  of  the  income,  and  the 
larger  the  capital  the  smaller  the  ratio  of  expense, 
the  cost  of  administration  being  the  same. 

The  Executive  Committee  of  the  City  Mission, 
composed  of  pastors  and  laymen,  give  their  personal 
attention  to  the  management  of  affairs,  and  reg- 
ularly inspect  every  department  of  the  work. 

Mr.  Lewis  E.  Jackson,  Corresponding  Secre- 
tary and  Assistant  Treasurer,  collects  the  statistics, 
edits  the  reports  and  documents,  and  attends  to  the 
correspondence,  the  finances,  and  the  general  busi- 
iness  of  the  Society. 

The  work  of  the  Female  Branch,  an  important 
auxiliary,  is  directed  by  Mrs.  A.  R.  Brown,  Super- 
intendent. 

The  Annual  Report  of  the  City  Mission,  con- 


192  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

taining  full  accounts  of  all  the  churches  and  chari- 
ties of  the  city,  may  be  had  on  application  at  the 
office,  50  Bible  House. 

CHURCH  ORGANIZATION. 

When  a  church  is  to  be  organized,  the  order  of 
proceeding  is  as  follows : 

1.  A  committee  of  the  Executive  Committee 
shall  be  appointed  to  visit  the  mission  chapel,  and 
those  persons  who  shall  wish  to  unite  in  the  Chris- 
tian society  there  to  be  formed,  shall  present  to 
this  committee  the  evidence  of  their  piety,  either 
by  certificate  of  their  church  membership,  or  by 
examination  before  the  committee,  and  when  ap- 
proved by  the  committee  they  shall  form  the 
Christian  Society  of  said  mission. 

2.  The  Society  thus  defined  shall  immediately 
proceed  to  elect,  by  a  majority  of  all  its  members, 
in  which  of  the  forms  recognized  among  evangelical 
Christians  the  ordinances  shall  be  observed  within 
it,  and  this  decision  shall  be  irreversible  in  that 
Society,  except  by  a  vote  of  three-fourths  of  all  its 
members. 

3.  It  shall  then  be  submitted  to  the  Society 
whether  they  will  elect  four  or  six  officers,  in 
classes  of  two  each,  to  whom  shall  be  committed 


CHURCH  ORGANIZATION.  193 

the  duty  of  examining,  under  the  counsel  of  the 
missionary  in  charge,  and  receiving  all  additional 
members,  and  of  excluding  from  the  ordinances 
those  who,  after  a  fair  investigation,  shall  be  found 
to  be  unworthy  of  them. 

4.  If  such  election  be  determined  upon,  it  shall 
at  once  proceed.  The  officers  of  the  second  class 
then  elected  shall  hold  office  for  one  year,  when 
there  shall  be  an  election  of  an  equal  number  of 
officers  to  take  their  place.  The  officers  of  the 
first  class  shall  be  replaced  by  an  election  to  be 
held  two  years  hence,  and  yearly  elections  shall  be 
held  thereafter,  in  such  manner  that  all  officers 
shall  serve  for  two  years.  The  officers  who  shall 
have  completed  their  term  of  office  shall  be  re- 
eligible. 

5.  These  officers  shall  have  a  spiritual  oversight 
of  the  members  of  the  Society,  but  they  shall  have 
no  control  of  any  of  those  details  of  mission  work 
which  have  hitherto  been  within  the  power  of  the 
Executive  Committee.  The  discipline  which  they 
shall  administer  shall  conform  to  rules  to  be  here- 
after drawn  out  by  the  Executive  Committee. 

6.  When  any  convert  who  shall  wish  to  join  the 
Society  thus  constituted,  shall  have  conscientious 
preferences  in  behalf  of  any  form  of  baptism  in  use 

Gospel  Work.  25 


194  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

among  evangelical  Christians,  that  ordinance  shall 
be  administered  in  his  case  according  to  such  pref- 
erence. And  when  so  many  as  five  members  of 
such  Society  shall  have  conscientious  preferences 
in  behalf  of  any  mode  of  administering  the  Lord's 
Supper,  which  is  in  use  among  evangelical  Chris- 
tians, and  is  different  from  that  which  has  been 
chosen  by  the  Society,  a  special  communion-ser- 
vice, according  to  such  preference,  shall  be  appoint- 
ed for  them,  to  occur  as  frequently  as  the  service 
adopted  by  the  Society. 

7.  The  ordinances  shall  in  each  case  be  admin- 
istered by  an  ordained  minister,  who  shall  be  con- 
nected with  some  evangelical  ecclesiastical  body  in 
this  city  or  vicinity. 

8.  The  Apostles'  creed  shall  be  adopted  by  the 
Society  above  described. 


FORMS  OF  REPORTS. 


19s 


FORM  OF  REPORTING. 
FORM  OF  MISSIONARY  REPORT. 
Ward  Report 187   . 


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FORM  OF  FEMALE  MISSIONARY  REPORT. 
Assistant  Missionary  Report  Month 187 


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FORM  OF  RETURN  FOR  CONVASSING  A  DISTRICT. 
City  M  ssionary  Census New  York, 187 


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196  GOSPEL  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

BENEVOLENT  SOCIETIES— CORPORATE  TITLES. 

In  the  accompanying  list  only  the  leading  gen- 
eral organizations  are  named.  A  more  complete 
catalogue  will  be  found  in  "  Christian  Work  in 
New  York,"  the  Annual  published  by  the  City 
Mission  and  Tract  Society. 

American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 

Missions. 

American  Bible  Society. 

American  Home  Missionary  Society. 

American  Missionary  Association. 

American  Church  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Churc  i. 

American  Baptist  Missionary  Union. 

American  Female  Guardian  Society. 

American  Seamen's  Friend  Society. 

American  Tract  Society. 

American  Sunday-school  Union. 

Association  for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the 
Poor  in  the  City  of  New  York. 

Association  for  Respectable,  Aged,  Indigent 
Females  in  the  City  of  New  York. 

Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


BENEVOLENT  SOCIETIES.  197 

Board  of  Home  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America. 

Children's  Aid  Society  in  the  City  of  New 
York. 

Five  Points  House  of  Industry,  in  the  City  of 
New  York. 

Home  for  Fallen  and  Friendless  Girls,  in  the 
City  of  New  York. 

Howard  Mission  and  Home  for  Little  Wander- 
ers, in  the  City  of  New  York. 

Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church. 

National  Temperance  Society  and  Publication 
House. 

New  York  City  Mission  and  Tract  Society. 

New  York  City  Mission  and  Tract  Society  for 
the  Benefit  of  the  Female  Branch. 

New  York  City  Mission  and  Tract  Society  for 
the  Christian  Workers'  Home. 

New  York  Juvenile  Asylum. 

New  York  Magdalen  Benevolent  Society. 

New  York  Society  for  the  Relief  of  the  Rup- 
tured and  Crippled. 

Prison  Association  of  New  York. 

Society  for  Promoting  the  Gospel  among  Sea- 


19^  GOSPEL  WORK  IX  NEW  YORK. 

men  in  the  Port  of  New  York,  usually  called  the 
Port  Society. 

Wilson  Industrial  School  for  Girls,  in  the  City 
of  New  York. 

Woman's  Aid  Society,  in  the  City  of  New 
York. 

Woman's  Hospital  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of  the  City 
of  New  York. 

Young"  Women's  Christian  Association  of  the 
City  of  New  York. 

In  this  enumeration  is  presented  a  fair  repre- 
sentation of  the  more  prominent  charities  of  the 
city,  such  as  any  good  citizen  might  choose  to 
remember  in  his  will.  Of  course  there  are  many 
other  worthy  objects,  and  there  are  societies,  and 
boards,  and  institutions  in  connection  with  particu- 
lar religious  denominations,  which  could  not  be 
brought  into  this  brief  compass.  Without  dispar- 
aging any  other  benevolent  enterprise,  it  may  be 
said  that  it  is  believed  that  a  careful  examination 
of  the  work  of  City  Evangelization  will  encourage 
the  wealthy  and  benevolent  not  only  to  contribute 
generously  to  its  support  from  year  to  year,  but 
will  also  lead  them  to  remember  the  cause  in  their 


FORM  OF  A  BEQUEST.  199 

wills.  A  sum  sufficient  to  endow  a  bed  in  a  Hos- 
pital, or  in  a  Home  for  Incurables,  or  to  create  an 
Emergency  Fund,  or  to  establish  a  Missionary 
Sanitarium,  would  be  of  great  service  to  the  cause. 
A  legacy  of  $50,000  will  provide  for  the  erection 
of  a  Mission  Chapel,  which  would  become  a  fitting 
memorial  of  the  testator,  and  stand  on  some  of  the 
city  thoroughfares,  as  a  permanent  institution  for 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls. 

Legacies  of  any  amount  will  be  acceptable,  and 
will  be  used  in  forwarding  the  objects  of  city  evan- 
gelization, or  devoted  to  any  special  purpose  desig- 
nated by  the  testator.  The  form  to  be  used  in 
making  bequests  will  be  found  below : 

FORM  OF  A  BEQUEST  TO  THE  CITY  MISSION. 

I  give  and  bequeath  to  "  The  New  York  City 
Mission  and  Tract  Society,"  instituted  in  the 
City  of  New  York,  and  incorporated  by  the  Legis- 
lature of  the  State  of  New  York,  the  sum  of 
dollars  to  be  applied  to  the  char- 
itable uses  and  purposes  of  said  Society. 

A  general  form  of  bequest  is  added,  which  may 
be  used  for  any  other  benevolent  society,  by  filling 
in  the  blanks  : 


200  GOSPEL   WORK  IN  NEW  YORK. 

GENERAL  FORM  OF  A  BEQUEST. 

I  bequeath  to  my  executors  the  sum  of   

dollars,  in  trust,  to  pay  over  the  same  in 

after  my  decease,   to   the  person   who,  when   the 
same   is    payable,    shall    act    as    treasurer   of    the 

Society,  formed  in  

in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and to  be 

applied  to  the  charitable  purposes  of  said  Society 
and  under  its  direction. 


DATE  DUE 

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Gospel  work  in  New  York  City  ;  a 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00052  9893 


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